


Stake the Salvatores

by romeosareveryundependable



Series: The Hybrid, the Witch, and the Hunter [1]
Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-11
Updated: 2013-05-18
Packaged: 2017-12-11 14:16:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 28,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/799649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/romeosareveryundependable/pseuds/romeosareveryundependable
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Damon kills Hayley, Tyler is looking to exact some vengeance on the Salvatore brothers, a task that can't be undertaken alone. Enter Bonnie, looking to prove just how useless she isn't. And Jeremy, coming into his own power and hoping to use it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Want to Kill Damon and Stefan

 

I Want to Kill

Tyler finds Bonnie.

Of all of them, she may be the only one to help him and he's not even sure of that. She's been dividing her time between school and another school (Whitmore College). Or at least that's what Caroline told him. But that was back when he was still talking to Caroline. He has Bonnie's phone number but he can't remember the last time they spoke over the phone. When he calls her, she doesn't answer and it goes straight to voicemail. He feels weird enough about calling and doesn't leave a message.

The last time he and Bonnie talked, it was when she was deciding to put Klaus in his body. You'd think something like that would bind people but nothing has changed between them.

Welcome to Mystic Falls, where someone can actually put another person in your body and take them out again but never speak to you again.

But Bonnie may be the only one who will help.

He'd ask Matt but he's so far up Elena's ass these days it would be a waste of time. He'd ask Jeremy now that he's an official hunter guy or whatever but that's a tossup and he doesn't want to risk him telling all to Elena. He'd ask Caroline even though she's a vampire, if Caroline cared.

_Chris isn't-_

Elena. A friend. Important. Anything.

No one is important unless Elena thinks they are important. Unless the Salvatores deem them important.

Hayley wasn't important.

Caroline seemed genuinely sorry about that. She cried even. But that's Caroline. She's quick to tears. But it didn't do anything to help. The hybrids Klaus left at the manor helped him bury what Damon left of her, or they tried to until Klaus yanked on that invisible chain and they all went running to do his bidding. Caroline wanted to take their place but Tyler sent her away, all the while trying not to scream, to throw things, to curse.

It took him so long to get away from that, away from the BL (Before Lycanthropy) Tyler. He's separated pieces of his life into neat categories. Or at least they  _were_  neat. Before Lycanthropy. After Lycanthropy which now melds into Before Hybridism. Then he's got After Hybridism. After Sire Bond. After Hayley. After Hayley's murder.

He calls it a murder because that's what it is.

He buried Hayley alone at the edge of the Lockwood property with only three smoothed, rounded rocks to denote a grave.

Tyler knew she was never safe here. No one was but Hayley really wasn't. New people didn't seem to last long in Mystic Falls. People like him didn't seem to last long either. Mason. Jules. Hayley. Even Brady, as much as he'd deserved what came to him.

That's why he needs Bonnie.

She may understand.

Caroline filled him in long ago about Bonnie's Grams and her mom, the warlocks Jonah and Luka. He wondered if they should start comparing notes on how many people like them had died because of vampires. They could make lists, write essays, long ones detailing who they were and why they died and how useless their deaths had been in the end.

For a long time, Tyler knew Klaus was his enemy. Klaus, who hijacked his mind and his choices. Klaus, who wanted – still wants - Caroline. Even if Tyler didn't call the Salvatores friends, he hadn't  _really_  considered them enemies since he became official with Caroline. The thought of Mason still gnaws at him but he believed Caroline when she said Mason was a threat to them, that they wouldn't have done it unless they had to. It's only now that Tyler realizes it was probably a lie.

Stefan and Damon said they had to kill Hayley too. And Tyler knew how untrue that was. He never cared much about Elena, some vague conversations had here and there while she was dating Matt and some polite exchanges over the course of years of town traditions. His entire relationship with Elena was founded on politeness of the vaguest sort. The fake kind. The-I've-known-you-since-childhood-and-must-show-some-loyalty politeness.

It's not enough anymore.

Tyler doesn't want to hurt Elena. Not really. Even in his mangled mental state, caught between mourning and rage, he knows what hurting Elena would do. He'd be more isolated than he is now. Not even Bonnie would help him. This town would go to war over Elena, and then they wouldn't have to reenact anything anymore.

At Whitmore, Bonnie spends her time with a professor. Atticus Shane. He seems kind of sketchy to Tyler. What kind of professor hangs out at frat parties? For some reason Caroline hadn't found that weird and maybe it wasn't compared to all the other things they were dealing with. But then again Caroline also doesn't find Klaus all that repellent so maybe creepy just kind of slides off her. And she liked Tyler, so that seems to cement that theory.

Tyler feels stupid seeking out Shane's office but it's all he can do. And now that he's here he's glad he came. Talking to Bonnie over the phone doesn't seem like a good idea, not for the kind of conversation he's looking to have. When he finds it, he hears voices from inside. Bonnie's is easily recognizable. The other must be Shane's.

Bonnie laughs and it's a strange sound. He doesn't think he's heard Bonnie laugh before, in their limited time together. Tyler thinks about the last laugh he heard and knows it belonged to Hayley and then he's angry all over again. The anger is easier to manage now that he's a hybrid but sometimes he wishes he could be a wolf again. Just a wolf. Then he can blame it on that. Then he can blame all of this on that. As a hybrid, it's nothing but him and the rage he isn't trying to control.

Tyler waits outside that office for at least an hour before the door opens. Bonnie comes out with a kind of smile on her face and her curls pulled back into a ponytail. "Bonnie," he says, when she doesn't notice him.

"Tyler?"

"Hi."

"Hi? What are you doing here?"

"I have to talk to you."

* * *

Bonnie has learned that people wanting to talk to her, needing her for any reason, usually constitutes something magical on her part. She wishes she'd taken Shane up on his offer to stick around for some more hypnosis and exotic tea. Now it's too late so she lets Tyler walk with her.

"I don't know if you heard," he begins. She tries to file through her head for something that anyone's told her about Tyler recently. She comes up blank. Caroline called a couple of times (Caroline is usually calling about something Tyler related) but Bonnie was busy and still hasn't gotten around to calling back. "My friend Hayley died."

Everyone's dead. Everyone dies. Welcome to Mystic Falls, the last place you'll ever see.

Bonnie remembers Caroline going off on some jealous rant about Hayley, certain that something was going on with her and Tyler. Bonnie remembers trying to remind Caroline that Tyler has been far more understanding regarding her whatever thingy with Klaus.

"I'm sorry," she said. "What happened?"

"Damon," Tyler says bitterly. She wants to smile because both she and Tyler seem to have mastered the art of making Damon's name into a curse word. It's short, hard and wrapped in venom. "I guess you didn't hear," he adds.

"Witches who lose their powers get left out of important conversations," she says.

"What?"

"Damon," she says. "Come over here." She leads him to a bench along the pathway, where sorority girls march up and down with their monogrammed bags and their perfect hair, chattering away on their cell phones about nothing in particular.

"I am sorry about your friend," she says, "but I don't get why you're talking to me about it. Caroline-"

"I'm  _not_  talking to Caroline." He doesn't look at her but down at the ground.

Bonnie thinks she's supposed to remember something about this, too. A fight they had a few weeks ago? About the hybrid Jeremy killed? Bonnie can't remember specifics.

"So you're talking to me?"

"I need your help."

"With?"

Tyler suddenly looks like he doesn't want to continue. "Maybe I made a mistake coming here."

"Well now you have to tell me," she says. "What do you need my help with?"

"I want to kill Damon and Stefan Salvatore."

Bonnie wants to laugh because it's so obvious. Of course he wants to kill them. Even to her it has been an obvious albeit impossible course of action. Killing them is basic and predictable and understandable but not possible. Because Elena doesn't want that. Because Caroline has some kind of friendship going with Stefan. Because Elena. Because Caroline.

"I know what you're thinking," Tyler says and maybe he does. If he's considered this at all, then he's probably already reached the same roadblock that Bonnie has reached so many times.

"Oh?"

Tyler tells her exactly what she was thinking.

"And you still want to?"

"Yes." He doesn't even look apologetic about it. For some reason (Bonnie knows the reason), she likes that. "The way I see it, lots of people we cared about have died. My uncle. Hayley. Your Grams. Your mom. They didn't think about us."

"Elena and Caroline didn't exactly sanction those killings."

"They didn't argue much against them either," Tyler growls. "Besides, I'm not suggesting we kill Elena and Caroline. I just want the Salvatores."

"Oh is that all?"

Bonnie has a list.

"And Klaus, if possible."

Maybe Tyler has a list, too.

"My magic is being…difficult," she says, wondering why she's humoring this instead of refusing outright (she knows why).

"Caroline says you can't do dark magic," Tyler says. "Does killing a few vampires count as dark?"

The spirits would probably  _love_  that. Bonnie, finally back on track, doing what they want. What she's supposed to do. Nature's weapon. Nature's sword. Back on the frontlines, fighting for the right side.

"I'll have to see," she tells him. "I have to think about it. All of it."

"You can't tell them."

"Oh, really? I'm glad you told me or else who knows what I might have done."

Tyler smiles as much as his grief will allow him to. "You have my number," he said. "Call me when you decide. Or you can just stop by the manor. Or something. I'm around."

Bonnie watches him go. She sits on the bench for awhile longer, turning it over in her mind.  _Kill Damon. Kill Stefan. Kill Damon. Kill Stefan. Maybe Klaus if time and ability permits. But definitely kill Damon. And kill Stefan. Devastate Elena. And Caroline. Save lives? Save my life? Save Tyler's?_

Lately, since she's started meeting with Shane, Bonnie thinks about her mortality. He's mentioned some spells that witches use to live longer and live younger. And Bonnie thinks she could do them at some point, if she gets there, but those won't protect her from an angry vampire or a rampaging hybrid. Very few things will. She can feel herself becoming less useful to them, to Elena. Damon makes sure she doesn't forget that.

_Kill Damon_.

Damon kills those who are not useful. Maybe he'd draw the line because of Elena, especially now that he's got a shot with her and Stefan being split up. But she remembers how he snapped Jeremy's neck and doesn't think Damon really knows where the lines go. And Stefan may have known at one point but every day the lines grow fainter and fainter with him. She could be next on the list of people that Damon and Stefan have killed.

Abby was on that list, too. Under other circumstances, Bonnie might have been on it instead.

_Kill Damon. Kill Stefan. Kill them before they kill me. Kill them because they're killers. Kill them because I want to? Because it's right? Kill them_.

And she suspects that even if she doesn't help Tyler, he'll do it on his own. And he'll inevitably die. Welcome to Mystic Falls, where you will die if you go up against the bad guys who say that they are good guys but are lying.

Bonnie had nature on her side. All of nature. The spirits would have to be happy with a few less vampires, especially if they were Stefan and Damon. She would tip the scales in Tyler's favor. Which would also become  _her_  favor. She would lose Elena. She would probably lose Caroline. Tyler definitely would, if he even wanted to be with her anymore.

But hey, Damon and Stefan would be dead.

Bonnie pulls out her cell phone and dials Elena. When she's not busy trying not to kill people, Elena is usually…Bonnie isn't sure what Elena does anymore. Caroline mentioned something about Stefan mentioning something about Elena journaling again.

"Bonnie," Elena says, in that breathless way she says things. Bonnie is beginning to be annoyed by that. "Hi."

"Are you busy?" Bonnie asks. "I need to talk to you."

Elena tells her to come over. It's just her and Damon.

Bonnie wonders if Elena can hear her rolling her eyes.

"I want to talk to you without him eavesdropping," she says. "Meet me at my house."


	2. Partners

Partners

Tyler doesn't go home right away. Well, he does, but then he spots Caroline's car in the driveway and turns right back around and drives toward the woods. He leaves his car to go down into the old cellar where he used to change on a full moon and he sits there in the dark. He listens to the animals outside, creeping over leaves and crawling over the rough bark of the trees. There's no one around. No speaking.

It's what he needs.

Caroline has left messages but he doesn't listen to them. She sends him texts but he doesn't read them. She can go talk to Klaus if she's lonely. A piece of his brain reminds him that it's not fair to be mad at Caroline for Klaus being obsessed with her (Tyler finds that weird too since Caroline looks a bit like Rebekah in his opinion and he doesn't want to think about the implications of  _that_ ). But he can blame Caroline for going on "dates" with Klaus. And he can blame Caroline for not doing a thing to help Hayley or to help him.

When Tyler thought Klaus was the enemy, he also knew what his side was and who was on it. Caroline was obvious. He loves (loved?) Caroline. She loved (loves?) him. There is no side that Tyler is on that Caroline isn't on as well. The same with him. Elena. Stefan and Damon. Jeremy. Bonnie. Matt. Good versus evil. Us versus them. He knew where he stood and now he's not sure anymore. He knows it's him drawing lines now. If Bonnie agrees, it'll be them versus everyone else.

Caroline called Elena his friend once, and Tyler didn't correct her. He hasn't forgotten how Elena instantly forgave him for telling Brady where to find her, the doppelganger, and trying to capture her for the sacrifice. He is grateful for that. But how far is gratitude supposed to go? At this rate, it'll take him and everyone else he loves (or likes or even meets once or twice) straight to the grave. Gratitude won't get him anywhere.

Tyler considers going back home. Caroline may still be there. If Caroline is anything, it is persistent. They could talk. He knows they should talk. Even if it's not a good conversation, it's a conversation. They  _should_  talk. He remembers when he felt like he could tell Caroline anything. That was a good feeling and he wants it back but now that seems impossible. The things he wants to tell Caroline are not things she wants to hear.

That's Caroline. She's friends with everyone. Or she was. Maybe that doesn't apply anymore. She's friends with Elena and Stefan. Not Damon but who really  _is_  friends with Damon? She's friends with Bonnie. Caroline  _really_  loves Bonnie and from what he's heard the feeling is mutual. Tyler begins to feel like shit for bringing Bonnie into this now.

Plus, Bonnie has extra incentive not to help. She's actually friends with Elena. She loves Caroline. Tyler loves Caroline, too. But out of all of them, she is the only one he loves. He and Matt haven't spoken in months, not really. And Tyler can't hide how annoyed he is that Matt dropped both him and Caroline after finding out what they were but ran to hop onboard the Elena express when she had to take up a supernatural lifestyle. If he loses Caroline, it's just one person. And Tyler can make new friends. He can find a new girlfriend perhaps. No one will be what Caroline was but hopefully no one else will be okay with killing innocent people either.

He can start over. He's proven that much, but he doesn't know if Bonnie can.

Out of the two of them, Bonnie might have the most to lose. And if Bonnie decides not to help him, she may decide to go against him. He'll lose for sure with Bonnie against him. She may tell the others.

Tyler thinks he should have tried harder to go this path alone.

* * *

Elena may not have ever looked like she  _belonged_ in Bonnie's house. They spent all their time at Elena's when they were younger. Anyone that wasn't Bonnie or her dad looked weird in Bonnie's house. But Elena never looked like she shouldn't be there at all either. Now she looks that way. Somehow this Elena doesn't mesh with old Elena doesn't mesh with Pre-Salvatore Elena. Elena does not fit the allowed-in-Bonnie's-house Elena. Bonnie feels guilty for hesitating to invite her in even though it had seemed a given a few weeks ago, when she determined that she would definitely invite Elena in if she ever came over. Now she was rethinking everything.

Welcome to Mystic Falls, where letting friends into your house becomes a huge fucking deal.

"What did you want to talk about?" Elena asked. She's strange as a vampire. Her eyes are always red from crying now and since their trip to Whitmore, Bonnie has trouble forgetting the vision of Elena with her bloody mouth. She sits on Bonnie's sofa and folds her legs beneath her. She almost looks normal. Bonnie focuses on that.

"Tyler's friend, Hayley," Bonnie answers. "She's dead, isn't she?"

Elena lowers her gaze.

"Why?" Bonnie asks. "What did she do?"

"I meant to call you," Elena says.

Bonnie tells her to forget about it and keep talking.

"Another hunter showed up last week," Elena explains. "And he went for the hybrids at the Lockwood place. Hayley was there and she was trying to protect them or something and she made a deal with the hunter."

"What was the deal?"

"She told him where to find more vampires," Elena says. "In exchange he'd leave the hybrids alone. He came  _to my house_. Jeremy was there. He could have been hurt."

Bonnie isn't sure when she started having to fight the urge to roll her eyes at Elena talking about Jeremy like he's ten. Maybe it was around the time Bonnie saw how not-ten-years-old Jeremy was. Or maybe it was around the time Jeremy cheated on her with a ghost. Hard to say for sure.

"Looking for you?" Bonnie asks.

"Looking for Damon and Stefan. And you know Damon, he got mad."

Of course he did.

"And he killed Hayley?"

"I tried to stop him. I told him not to. Caroline and Tyler have been fighting about this for weeks, you know? I didn't want Damon to make it worse. But…it happened anyway."

"Where's the hunter now?"

"Jeremy and Matt killed him," Elena says. "They're human so we avoid the hallucinations that way."

"When was this? Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"You were at Whitmore," Elena explains. "I thought you wanted some space. I didn't want to mess you up because I know you're working on your magic. And we didn't need you so we didn't bother you."

We didn't need you so we didn't call you. We didn't tell you that we killed Tyler's friend because we didn't need you. We'll call when we need you. When your magic returns. When you're useful again.

Elena's been spending too much time with Damon.

* * *

When Bonnie asks Tyler where he is, he tells her. She comes to the cellar and within minutes they are making plans. She is sitting next to him on the ground and they are discussing how best to do it. Tyler is equal parts shocked and relieved that she came.

It was decided without verbalizing it, that they would do this as secretly as possible. They both know why. Despite the fact they believe in what they're going to do, the world, the town, will be a better place without the Salvatore brothers, they don't want to lose Elena and Caroline in the process. Maybe Tyler doesn't care so much about losing Elena. But Bonnie does. And Tyler caring about Caroline has been his life recently because that's all Caroline's life was.

Killing Stefan and Damon at the same time is an option for about a minute before they determine that's a bad idea. Bonnie is a strong witch, she knows that much, at least when her powers are reliable. But she doesn't want to hinge all their plans on her magic just yet. Tyler can condemn them both with a bite but Damon and Stefan have a habit of getting around that. Klaus and his selective compassion.

Klaus. He may be a problem, too.

Stefan may be the easiest. He trusts them both for the most part. Bonnie almost feels bad about discussing the best ways to stake Stefan. He  _did_  come see her at her house when no one else did. But then again, he only came to ask her magic related questions and then got roped into being a decent human being/vampire because she was obviously depressed. Bonnie doesn't feel so bad anymore.

Tyler is animated and excited. He had always been a talker, though Bonnie remembers that he never used to say anything of substance. This and that about girls and sex and drinking and general assholery. But that was back when they were all normal. His eyes are lit up. He really wants to kill them.

It's infectious.

Bonnie starts smiling, too.

Damon will be complicated. He's arrogant and temperamental which will lead to mistakes but he is also the stronger brother. And he is the one that won't hold back. Stefan may want an explanation, may think that they are being possessed or controlled or just not themselves. Stefan might want to talk first. Damon will not care.

"If we kill Stefan first," Bonnie says, "Damon will lose it."

"That'll happen either way. We just have to be sure we cover our tracks. Send him in a different direction. You know he'll want to find who do it. As long as we set him on a path, we can surprise him."

For all their bitching and moaning, Damon and Stefan love each other. If one of them dies, the other one will collapse. There will probably be collateral damage. If they were to kill Damon first, Stefan would go all Ripper and take his show on the road. His brand of damage would be hard to contain, to control, to prevent. Damon would remain local. Between Tyler and Bonnie, they'd be able to keep him under control. Elena and Caroline would come in handy there. Elena's crying might actually do some good. Sometimes Bonnie thinks Damon really does care what Elena wants, and then she remembers Damon snapping Jeremy's neck and she decides Damon only cares what Damon wants.

"Klaus could be an issue," she says.

"How so?"

Bonnie reminds him of Klaus' weird crush on Stefan. They can't be certain but Klaus may look to help Damon hunt down whoever killed Stefan. And Klaus is annoying on a good day and a monster on a bad one, so Bonnie can say with certainty that he will prove difficult if he chooses to involve himself. They can take down Klaus. Bonnie's done it before but Klaus plus a grieving Salvatore is not the way to go.

Tyler shook his head. "It still has to be Stefan."

"But what do we do if Klaus gets involved?"

Tyler looked thoughtful.

They end up rethinking the whole thing. They won't let anyone know Stefan has been killed. They can hide his body somewhere. Burn it when they get the chance. Damon and Elena will search for him. If Klaus wants to help, he will. While they're looking, they'll undoubtedly come to Bonnie for help. If Tyler was on better terms with Caroline, she'd probably ask for his help with the search but that's unlikely now. But Bonnie they will ask for sure. She could be  _useful._  She will pretend to help and send them somewhere useless. Getting Damon alone won't be hard. Even though he whines about Bonnie being unhelpful, he tends to call her a lot to join him on things like this. She'll have an opportunity then.

Tyler is still smiling. "I'm glad you came."

"I'm glad we're doing this."

She feels braver knowing that she's not alone. Before, it would have been Bonnie against them all. Now she has a partner. She tells him so.

"Even Caroline," she says, "doesn't see a problem with them. Stefan I can understand. He helped her when she was turned but Damon...Did she tell you about him?"

Tyler looks up at her. When she mentions Caroline, she sees him swallow. Hard. She knows he loves Caroline. It's hard not to love Caroline. Even though he's angry with her, he loves her. Bonnie knows all about that. "Yeah," he says. "Caroline knows how to forgive, I guess. Better than we do anyway."

Bonnie doesn't see a point in forgiving Stefan or Damon. Isn't forgiveness supposed to mean that someone feels bad for what they did? Stefan and Damon have never shown remorse. Stefan pretends to, in that _Stefan way_ he has, but then he'll do the same thing later and let Damon get away with literal murder.

"She didn't always," Bonnie says. She knows it's not a bad thing, to be like Caroline, to be sweet and warm and forgiving like that but Bonnie still remembers the well meaning, overachieving Caroline who was insecure and jealous and held grudges for years. She remembers fighting with that Caroline and not talking for days then making up over burgers at the Grill after a grueling cheer practice. She liked that Caroline just as much as she likes this one but sometimes she wants that one back. She considers that her and Tyler have had vastly different histories with Caroline. She knew Caroline before she was a vampire and Tyler only knows the Caroline that came after. She wonders which is the real Caroline, the one that counts.

"She's a good vampire," Bonnie says, more to herself than to Tyler. "She reminds me that Stefan and Damon can help what they are. There's no such thing as vampire nature. They choose what they do." They chose to turn Abby. And they chose to kill Hayley and the other hybrid, Chris. All the people they've killed. They chose it.

Damon likes to use that one. They're vampires. This is what they do. They kill and they feed and they don't care. Caroline cares. Elena cares  _a lot_ , in her way.

They are not the way they are because of vampires. Bonnie doesn't hate vampires. Tyler is half vampire. Caroline and Elena are vampires and Bonnie loves them more than anything.

"And we're choosing this," Tyler says.

They can both live with that choice. Stefan and Damon have been living for centuries with theirs.

"So Stefan's first," Bonnie says. There's still a lot to be done, details to figure out. So many details. But it seems like a big deal, choosing which Salvatore will see hell first.

Tyler agrees. "Stefan's first."

Welcome to Mystic Falls, where you can kill things that are already dead.


	3. Caroline Clings

Caroline Clings

Since his breakup with Elena, and Caroline's yet to be official breakup with Tyler, Stefan has been spending a lot of time with her. Where Caroline goes, Stefan isn't far behind. Tyler knows about this and even if he wanted to talk to Caroline, he wouldn't approach her with Stefan. Bonnie reminds him that it's actually a pretty good idea if they want to split them up in the near future. Stefan will talk to Bonnie while Caroline is with Tyler. It's more than perfect actually.

But Tyler can't do it yet.

Bonnie doesn't mind much. Not yet anyway. It gives her an opportunity to figure Stefan out. And neither of them is in a hurry. It has to be perfect for their sakes. And perfection takes time. She drops in on Stefan and Caroline. Stefan minds it, she can tell. But he pretends he doesn't because Caroline likes it when Bonnie is there. No matter what happens, Caroline always likes it when Bonnie is there. It reminds her just how important it is for her and Tyler to remain discreet. Sometimes Bonnie thinks she can live without Elena, who so easily lives without her. But Caroline still clings to Bonnie and for that, Bonnie is grateful.

"I'm not gonna talk about Tyler anymore," Caroline says as she chews on her straw. "I'm gonna wait for him to come to me. If he wants to talk, he can come to me."

Neither Bonnie nor Stefan reminds her that she's said this before. Two times in fact.

They still don't say anything when Caroline asks Bonnie if she's talked to Tyler recently. Bonnie lies and says she hasn't though she isn't sure why she does that. Granted her and Tyler have never been close but it's not  _that_  weird if Bonnie talks to him. But she thinks it's better to feign disinterest when it comes to Tyler, just in case. She's beginning to feel like they're in a spy movie or something.

Bonnie wonders if Caroline and Stefan have talked about Hayley and Tyler. She wonders what Stefan's response has been. Does he defend Damon? Does he justify it because they had to "protect their friends?" Why is it that no one else's friends are protected? Why wasn't Tyler's friend protected? Why wasn't Abby?

Abby is complicated. Bonnie doesn't think of her as her mother, not really. But she thinks of her as someone that is part of her. Sometimes Bonnie can't determine if it's because of genetics or if it's because of magic. She tells herself it's the magic that makes her feel connected to Abby instead of something more. She has stopped expecting an apology for what happened.

Welcome to Mystic Falls, where there's no apology necessary when it's for Elena.

* * *

Tyler runs into Bonnie later. It's weird to see her out and about after what they decided. He wonders if he should stop and talk to her but then he thinks that may be weird. They still aren't friends. They're just helping each other. And in the distance Tyler sees Caroline's blond curls. She's walking down the street alongside someone who is definitely Stefan Salvatore. His blood runs hot.

Bonnie bends her steps toward him. He doesn't know what he expects her to say but "You should talk to Caroline" isn't anywhere near the potential phrases.

"Didn't we just talk about how I don't want to speak to Caroline right now? Remember how you said that was okay?"

"Yes but I think you should anyway. She wants to talk to you."

Tyler isn't sure how his teaming up with Bonnie means that she gets to tell him what to do now.

"Tyler," Bonnie says. "Just call her. If you're mad at her then tell her that."

"Would you like me to tell her how we're going to kill her new best friend, too?"

Bonnie makes a face. She isn't amused. " _Call Caroline_. She misses you."

And that's it because Bonnie is walking away.

Tyler sits on a bench in the square and calls Caroline.

* * *

Bonnie goes back to Whitmore that afternoon. She considers asking Shane some questions about the best ways to go about killing vampires but she already knows the answer to that: a well crafted stake. And adding details makes her nervous. Instead they practice her magic some more. They've moved beyond lighting candles, though Bonnie sometimes lights them all just because she can. And she likes the way Shane looks at her once she's done it: like she's something he's never seen before and doesn't want to look away from. No one has found her magic that awe inspiring since Jeremy, not even the people that benefit from it the most.

Shane says he wants to get her back into the habit of doing small things. He says it's like a muscle, her magic. The more she works it, the stronger it'll get. She hasn't had a nosebleed yet and Shane assures her that if they stick on the path he has planned for her, she won't ever have one.

As Bonnie levitates the burning candles, she imagines doing the same with a stake and driving it into Stefan's heart.

It's a nice image.

"I know you have class tomorrow," Shane says as Bonnie starts gathering her things, "so we're not going to be seeing each other. But just work on it. You're good."

_You're good._

Good enough to kill the Salvatores.

Welcome to Mystic Falls, where it seems that's all you have to be to survive.

* * *

Tyler doesn't know where Caroline's been all day and he doesn't ask. He doesn't ask why she's hanging out with Stefan. She sits down next to him and they sit there for awhile, looking at the grass and not talking. Finally, Caroline speaks.

"So. Where've you been?"

"I've been here," Tyler answers.

"You haven't returned my calls."

"Sorry."

"If you weren't going to talk to me, why did you ask me to meet you here?" Caroline demands.  _Because I've been avoiding you and Bonnie told me I should._ He's seen Caroline's angry face plenty of times and she's seen his. Usually he wants it to go away because Caroline angry with him means he's done something horrible. But now he doesn't care like that. He should be angrier than her. He  _is_.

"I do want to talk," he sighs.  _I just don't know what to say_. Caroline knows what he thinks. She knows why he's angry. He doesn't know what else to tell her other than his emotions are still there.

"Well, let's talk. I'm  _so_  sorry about what happened to Hayley. I didn't want that. I know she was important to you but-"

"No buts," Tyler says. "There are no buts, Caroline."

"I know," she says quickly. "I mean that….I mean-"

"Don't say it."

"Say what?"

"Say that thing about protecting our friends. I can't listen to it again."

"I was going to say that I understand. I wish I could have stopped it. I tried, and so did Elena."

"Don't talk to me about Elena either."

Elena isn't his friend. He knows Caroline loves her and that means Tyler must also love her. That's what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to love the people that your loved ones love. He's been doing it. But he's the only one. And maybe he should hold his tongue when it comes to Elena, with Caroline and with Bonnie. With everyone it seems. Matt's probably in love with her. He never really stopped. She's Jeremy's sister. Damon and Stefan are as obsessed as you can be with another human being.

Elena is untouchable.

Tyler thinks he may be starting to hate her.

"Then let's talk about us," Caroline says. "Are we still…us?"

"I don't know. I don't think I've changed. Not that much."

"But you think I have."

_Because you have_. He doesn't think Caroline gets it. She doesn't understand how jarring it was to hear her say Chris wasn't important, not as important as Elena. He doesn't think she sees what the problem was. What the problem still is.

"I get it," Caroline says. "You think I don't but I do. I'm on your side, Tyler. I promise you I am."

When Hayley died, when Tyler found her body heartless and cold, Caroline touched him and he felt sick. Caroline has always been able to sympathize. She held him when he changed for the first time, wanted to feel his pain for him. But now he doesn't know if she still does. That day he questioned whether or not Caroline felt anything at all.

"Do you want to break up?" she asks.

_No_.  _I love you_.

"No."

"Then what do you want?"

Stefan and Damon as piles of ash.  _But you can't help me get that._

"When you say you're on my side, what do you mean?"

"I mean that I'm not going to let anybody hurt you," Caroline says. "Or anyone you care about."

"They're your friends."

She knows who he's talking about.

"Damon is  _not_  my friend. Stefan is...Stefan. He's saved my life before."  _And taken plenty of others,_ Tyler thinks. "But you're my boyfriend. I love you."

Tyler knows it shouldn't be enough. And it isn't enough to change his mind. He'll still meet with Bonnie later, they'll still conspire to kill both Salvatores, and he'll still hide that from Caroline. But he loves her and she says she's on his side. He wants to believe her and Caroline has a way of wrapping around his heart and squeezing. Caroline clings but in a way that makes him cling back. So he kisses her.

* * *

After Bonnie reunited with Caroline and Stefan, Caroline left because Tyler called ( _Good job, Tyler)_ and Bonnie was left alone with the younger Salvatore. She remembers when she preferred him to Damon. She still does really. If she had to pick, she'd pick Stefan though the distinction is becoming harder and harder to make. Damon is loud and obnoxious, but he's never lied about what he is. Damon knows he's a monster. Stefan likes to say he isn't.

"How are you doing?" Stefan asks. The sun is shining. Bonnie imagines it burning Stefan.

"I'm good. How are you?"

At least Stefan handles these breakups better than his brother. They don't have to worry about Stefan going on a rampage and draining all the girls from school. Bonnie worries about that anyway but not because he broke up with Elena.

"I'm okay. Have you talked to her? Elena?"

It's a dumb question because even though Stefan and Elena are broken up, they still talk. The rate of conversation between them is probably around the same for Bonnie and Elena. But she says she has anyway. Because she did. Yesterday. She makes a mental note to text Elena later.

"She told me about Hayley."

Stefan pauses for a moment and gets that look on his face that says he's feigning guilt. Maybe it's real guilt. But Bonnie assumes it's fake because they'll be telling the same story in a week or two. That is if Stefan's still alive then. She thinks she and Tyler should talk about a timeline. Perfection takes time but they could put this off forever if they kept waiting for that.

"Caroline told me that Tyler is taking it hard," Stefan says.

"How else is he supposed to take it?"

Bonnie knows she didn't react much when Abby was turned. She knows she barely reacts to them anymore. There was a time when she would have set Damon on fire, ripped his brain apart. She would have done the same to Stefan. Somewhere along the way, that girl disappeared. But Bonnie feels her coming back. With a vengeance.

"I talked to Damon."

"Everyone talks to Damon. Never seems to do much."

"Elena talked to him, too."

Bonnie shoots him a sidelong glance. She tries to think of a time when that has worked. She comes up blank.

"Are they official yet?" Bonnie asks.

"I could ask you the same question."

"Well, don't because I don't know the answer."

Welcome to Mystic Falls, where you don't know until you know.

Bonnie's cell starts buzzing. It's Caroline.  _Fixed things w/Tyler. See you later. :)_

It buzzes again. The next text is from Tyler.  _With Care. Meet me at cellar. Midnight._

Bonnie decides that if Caroline isn't going to come back, she doesn't want to spend anymore time with Stefan. She makes up an excuse.  _Gotta go. Will be planning to kill you later_.


	4. Every Good Party Needs A Planner

Every Good Party Needs A Planner

Bonnie is already in the cellar when Tyler arrives. Caroline is asleep back at the house and Tyler is almost positive she didn't wake up when he left. Even if she did, he's still positive she didn't follow him. They had sex and in a way, it felt the same as before. But in other ways, it didn't. He hopes Caroline doesn't expect that they're back to normal because they're not. He's not. He will never be that kind of normal again.

Tyler and Bonnie don't talk about Caroline. Instead he says, "I think I'll have a party."

Bonnie's green eyes meet his brown ones and she stares at him for awhile. "Because…?"

"It'll provide a distraction," he says. "And you know everyone will come."

"Yes," Bonnie agrees. " _Everyone_  will come. Including Elena and Caroline."

He doesn't tell her he doesn't care about Elena.

"It's a big house," he says instead.

"It's too risky."

"We can make it work. Caroline said you guys did something to trap Katherine at the masquerade ball."  _The night I killed Sarah._ It's a depressing memory. He wouldn't have gotten into this situation at all if that night hadn't happened. "Can't we do that? Just with Stefan? You're strong enough to do that, right? I can do the actual staking. You just get me in a room with Stefan."

Bonnie is thinking. She taps her fingers on the ground and stays quiet.

"It was a spell to trap Katherine inside a room," she says. "To trap a vampire. I think we can assume you'll be trapped inside, too."

"That's fine. You can let me out when it's done."

"We'll need to take precautions," she says. "There's a spell that will silence the room."

They don't need any other vampires hearing what's going on. Tyler can already picture Caroline coming to see what all the fuss is about and finding Tyler just as he pierces Stefan's heart with a stake. She'll probably want to break up then.

"We'll have to think of a way to get Stefan to you," Bonnie says. She starts mumbling to herself and Tyler can hear her clearly but he can't make it out. He asks her what she's talking about.

"I think I can do a glamour."

"A glamour?" He only understood the bare bones of what Bonnie was telling him when she put Klaus in his body and this is brand new information.

"Yeah, I can make him see whatever I want him to see."

"And what would you make him see?"

"Elena."

They stay there for hours, talking it out. Going around in circles, again and again and again until they both think they have it right. Bonnie needs more practice, to make sure she can do it. "I don't want any surprises," she says. Tyler is impatient, but he agrees to give it another week though they both know that in a week, everything could have changed. In a week they could have another hunter to deal with or Matt could get turned into a vampire or someone could blow up something and then they'll have to rethink all their plans.

Bonnie is getting ready to leave when Tyler speaks again, "Do you think we could kill Klaus?"

Tyler remembers a feeling of relief when he learned that Klaus had been dessicated and was lying in a coffin, not speaking and not breathing. Then he remembers how Klaus being inside his body seemed like a good idea if it meant it would save them all, including him. Including Caroline. Now he just wants Klaus dead. Hayley wanted it to though she had an easier time accepting how impossible it was. Killing Klaus meant killing the hybrids, meant killing Tyler. Hayley decided right away it wasn't something they should try to pursue.

Bonnie shrugs. "We'd have to find a way around the whole bloodline thing. Besides, Klaus is pretty immortal."

"But you did manage to dessicate him."

"Yeah."

"But that's dark magic, right?" That he knows because Caroline told him about that once Tyler was back in his body and she tried to explain what happened with Bonnie and her magic and it didn't make sense. Some stuff about spirits and black magic and Bonnie's Grams.

"Yeah."

"So you can't do it?"

"No, I can do it," she says. Her tone is harsh but she seems to feel bad about that and speaks softly next. "The spirits just won't let me."

Tyler doesn't understand the difference.

"I'll figure something out," she says.

"Don't worry about it," Tyler says. "We'll cross that bridge. Later." There's no reason to push her, not when they've already got their hands full. Besides, she's helping him kill Damon and Stefan and that's enough for now.

* * *

"I should go back," Tyler says. It's close to 4 AM now.

"You should," Bonnie agrees. "We have school in a few hours."

Welcome to Mystic Falls, where school seems more make believe than all the vampires and werewolves and hybrids.

"Do you want me to walk you to your car?"

Chivalrous Tyler is not a Tyler Bonnie is familiar with. "No," she says. "I'll be okay. I'm a witch remember? If I you think I can't protect myself then you asked the wrong person for help."

They both smile.

* * *

Bonnie makes it to her car just fine, but she doesn't go home. With her dad out of town again, her house empty. And it rarely feels like home. She's spent most of her time at Elena's or Caroline's or her Grams' over the years. It's late and going to see Elena would stir up questions not to mention Bonnie doesn't want to interrupt whatever it is Elena may be doing with Damon. Caroline isn't at home anyway. And her Grams' place feels just like the tomb she died trying to seal.

All that considered, Bonnie still isn't sure why she goes to Wickery Bridge. This is Elena's spot not hers. This is where Elena's story began, but it seems like Bonnie's story is so entwined with Elena's these days that she can't separate them. Besides, the moon in its crescent glory lights up the bridge tonight. And it's not the bridge that interests Bonnie. It's the water below it. She goes down the slope toward the bank. When she's at the edge of the water, she starts taking off her clothes.

She's not an exhibitionist, but she's sure there's no one around. She feels her surroundings with her magic, touching no one alive (or dead). It's perfect. She wades into the water in her underwear, ignoring the chill. She goes to the center of the water, where her magic keeps her afloat. To anyone who saw her, she would look like she is standing, like the water isn't so deep. But she can't feel the bottom with her toes and knows that it was deep enough to kill Elena's parents and Elena only weeks ago.

She's never done this before but she feels the need to try. Shane says it's nature she should worry about. The spirits are just spirits but Nature is the mother, the father and every other authority that should matter. She's not strong enough, not yet, to go around the spirits. They block her because they  _are_  her.

_And you let them_ , Shane says.  _Don't let them_.  _You're alive. You have your own power and you don't need theirs. You don't need permission._

Nature is the mother. The father. Nature is what matters. Nothing - no one - else matters. Other witches have done it. Greta Martin did it. She didn't let the spirits choke her magic and her power and limit it the way Bonnie has. Greta is dead, but it wasn't the magic that killed her. Bonnie closes her eyes.

"I will kill Stefan," she says to the water, to the sky, to the stars, to the earth, to Nature. "I will kill Damon. I will kill Klaus. And anyone else that needs to die. I will save myself and my friends. I don't have to be afraid. I will kill Stefan..." She repeats this for hours. Until she begins to feel warmth on her skin from the rising sun. She opens her eyes and swims to the bank.

_You'll learn to put yourself into trances, too_ , Shane said.  _  
_

Bonnie only returns home to shower and change clothes. She gets to school late but at least she showed. She has History with Caroline and Jeremy. Jeremy, who is somehow taking AP History though Bonnie doesn't know he finds the time to study. Caroline's mood has improved exponentially now that she's back on steady ground with Tyler. Jeremy manages to look unaffected by everything though Bonnie still remembers his emo phase and his druggie phase and marvels at how he's not regressing. Maybe it's the hunter thing. Maybe this is Jeremy's hunter phase. Except this one will be permanent.  _  
_

"I'm so glad me and Tyler talked," Caroline says afterward as they walk down the hall together, sidestepping all their normal classmates. "I think we're okay now."

Bonnie can tell Caroline isn't totally certain of that. "But?"

"He left last night after we...you know."

Bonnie doesn't react. "Where'd he go?"

"I don't know."

"Did you ask him?"

"No. I just pretended I was asleep when he got back. He was gone for  _hours_."

Bonnie makes a mental note to tell Tyler they should keep their meetings short, at least when he's got Caroline over. Then that reminds her of the other mental note she made to text Elena yesterday.

"Have you talked to Elena?"

"No," Caroline answers. "I think she's avoiding me."

"Why?"

"Because of Stefan."

Because Caroline likes Stefan and hates Damon. And Bonnie suspects it may have something to with Caroline taking the vampire thing better than Elena ever could. For so long Elena was better at Caroline at everything. Well, maybe not better but people liked things more when Elena did them. They liked it better when Elena told them things Caroline wanted them to know, liked it better when Elena wore clothes Caroline wore, liked Elena better than they liked Caroline. And now, for the first time, Caroline is better than Elena at being a vampire. But still, everyone likes Elena better because of it.

Bonnie  _never_  asks Caroline about Matt. Caroline may be more mature now but she's still Caroline. And Matt ditched her because she was a vampire, because vampires killed Vicki. But now that Elena's a vampire, he has to be her walking, talking, breathing blood bag. No, Bonnie does not - will not - ask about Matt. Ever.

"Where  _is_  Stefan?"

"He's not coming back. I mean, he only enrolled for Elena."

Centuries old vampires being enrolled in high school is weird. Bonnie has always thought that.

"Do you think I should ask Tyler?" Caroline asks. She looks at Bonnie with her round eyes and tugs on the end of one of her curls. Sometimes Caroline seems so human. "Or should I let him have his space?"

Bonnie shrugs her shoulders. "It's probably Hayley."

"Yeah," Caroline agrees. "Did Elena tell you about that?"

"What?" Bonnie knows she's messed something up.

"I mean, I tried calling you to tell you but you never called me back and yesterday you just kinda knew. I was just wondering if Elena told you." Caroline doesn't look like she's going to make a big deal about it but it's startling for Bonnie who wants to keep this whole thing as separate from Caroline as possible. Caroline's not stupid and this all seems so obvious from Bonnie's end. All Caroline has to do is piece it all together and then it'll fall right into her lap and Bonnie and Tyler will be stopped before they even start. She tells herself that Caroline may think it's weird, but it's going to take a lot more than that for her to leap to Bonnie and Tyler partnering up to kill Stefan and Damon.

"Did Elena tell you?" Caroline asks.

Bonnie almost says yes but then she remembers that she'd told Elena she already knew about Hayley. She bites the bullet.

"Tyler told me."

Caroline cocks her head to the side. "Tyler? You said you hadn't talked to him."

Well, fuck. She did say that.

"I know," Bonnie says quickly, "but he was talking to me the other day about it. About you."

"What did he say?" Caroline's voice goes up in pitch. It always does that when she's about to freak out.

"Nothing," Bonnie assures her. "Nothing bad. He was just asking about you. How you were doing and stuff and he told me what you were fighting about. I think he thought I knew already and he just...said it."

"Then why'd you say you hadn't talked to him?"

Welcome to Mystic Falls, good luck keeping your lies straight.

"Because I told him to call you because you missed him," Bonnie says. It's true. She's glad that part is true. "And I didn't want you to get mad because I was...you know, in your business or whatever. Sorry."

"Oh. Well, thanks I guess." Caroline's over it, just like that. She loves Bonnie too much to question it. God, that makes Bonnie's stomach hurt. "Oh, he said he's thinking of having a party soon," Caroline says. "Friday. Not this Friday but  _next_ Friday. Are you gonna go? Please go. I know you're all teacher's pet right now..." Bonnie rolls her eyes. "...but you should go because I'll be there and we haven't been to a party together in  _forever_  and we can go shopping together and get ready together! I can do your makeup! Tyler will probably think it's weird but you can invite Shane if you want to. I mean, he did go to that frat party."  _  
_

Bonnie laughs and agrees to all of it. Except for the Shane part. There will be enough people she knows there and she can't be distracted, not when she's got a Salvatore to kill.


	5. Action

Action

Tyler forgot he has to actually provide things for his party. He's so wrapped up in the other purpose for this event that he forgot he'll need alcohol, cups and music not to mention a way to get his mom out of the house. He's got two out of three down. Being Tyler Lockwood, the mayor's son in a tiny town, he can't buy alcohol in Mystic Falls. So he has to go to the next town over with his fake I.D. and wad of cash. It's the perfect opportunity to meet with Bonnie. He offered to drive her there himself but she insists that they take separate cars, just in case. Even though no one knows them there, Bonnie still grabs a bottle of water she pretends that she's going to buy and acts surprised when she sees him.

They haven't spoken really, not since last week when Bonnie informed him that Caroline noticed him leaving the other night. Caroline has occupied most of his time. He knows she's worried that they're not where they're supposed to be but he assures her the best way he can. They're both trying and sometimes he sees the Caroline that he fell in love with. She doesn't mention Elena to him anymore and she never talks about either Salvatore even though she doesn't keep her friendship with Stefan a secret either. They talk a lot about helping the other hybrids and Tyler knows she means it. Eventually he'll ask Bonnie for help with at least breaking the sire bond. Klaus can go on living forever if he wants to but if he can free them than he wants to.

"How's your magic?" Tyler asks Bonne as he drops plastic cups into the cart.

"Good. How's your...hybrid thing?"

"Good. Can you do the spells we need."

"Yes." She sounds sure. If Bonnie's sure, Tyler's sure. "I have a stake, too. I took it from Alaric's old stash. I can bring it to your house beforehand. Decide which room you want to use?"

"Guest room number 3," Tyler says with a shrug. "I don't know. Come by and pick." He doesn't know if there's some special quality this room has to have.

"I'll come by tonight."

"I can't believe we're talking about this in aisle 3."

Bonnie looks up. "It's aisle 7 actually. Would you like to go to aisle 3?"

Tyler has known Bonnie for his whole life and he knows nothing about her. He knows she's a witch. He knows her mom is gone (and is now a vampire) and her dad might as well be (gone, not a vampire). Her Grams is dead. She's best friends with Elena and Caroline. Used to date Jeremy. He thinks she might have worked with Matt at the pool one summer but he can't be sure. But he can't remember hearing Bonnie make a joke or remember laughing at anything she's said. She's not that funny actually but he laughs anyway because that seems like the right thing to do.

Bonnie walks with him to the side of the store with all the beer and he grabs a pack. When he asks, Bonnie grabs one, too. "You're not providing much, are you?" she says when he moves on without picking up anymore.

"What? If anyone's serious about drinking, they'll bring their own," he says. "But I'll put a couple aside for you if you want."

Bonnie looks like she couldn't care less either way, but she thanks him.

"So what's with you and that professor guy?" Tyler asks.

"Why does everyone think there's something happening with me and Shane?"

Tyler shrugs. He thinks that because Caroline thinks that. Caroline is  _sure_  of it.  _Elena told me he's hot. Bonnie's hot, too. And hot people like each other so as far as I'm concerned they're totally doing stuff_. He tells Bonnie that.

Bonnie rolls her eyes but she's smiling. "It's nothing. He's just helping me with my magic."

"So you're not having sex with him on his desk every time you go there?"

Bonnie makes a face. She likes to blink at people and purse her lips when she's annoyed. But it's not genuine annoyance. It's the face she makes with Caroline sometimes, when she says something Bonnie finds ridiculous but endearing. "No."

"But...do you want to?"

" _No_."

Tyler doesn't believe her. "So if this  _hot_  professor teacher guy wanted to hook up with you, you're telling me you wouldn't go there?"

"Yes."

"Why not?"

"I'm in  _high school_."

"He goes to  _frat parties_."

"You guys are never gonna let that go."

They start laughing. Tyler considers how normal they must look. Just two teenagers walking through a store, him pushing a cart around (loaded with liquor) and Bonnie next to him, just laughing. It feels like the most normal thing he's done in awhile. He thinks he and Bonnie should figure out some way to come up with their plans in a normal place instead of the dark hole that is the cellar.

"If you do end up getting busy with the Fratty Professor, be sure to tell Caroline," Tyler says. "She's dying for you to get some action."

" _What_?"

"Caroline. Wants. You. To. Get. Some. Action," he repeats. "She was telling me about it the other day."

"Why are you and Caroline talking about me getting  _action?"_

"She's very concerned because you haven't had sex since Gilbert. She's not actually sure if you had sex with him." He remembers Caroline telling him to ask Jeremy and Tyler asking her why she can't just get that info from Bonnie herself.  _Because he cheated on her with a dead girl, Tyler. I can't just_ ask  _her._  Tyler had decided he wasn't going to ask Jeremy but now he might.

"I think you two could come up with better conversation topics."

"I can hook you up with one of the guys from the football team."

Bonnie laughs. It's the same one he heard when he was at the Professor-she's-not-fooling-around-with's office. When Bonnie's laughing, Tyler can see why Caroline loves her so much. She's lighter that way. He wonders if he looks the same to her. "Thank you but I'm okay."

"So do you really not have the slightest bit of a thing for him?" Tyler wiggles his eyebrows.

"Stop that," Bonnie says. "And maybe just a little thing."

* * *

The Lockwood manor is the weirdest place to be. Bonnie has never liked it, the way it looks more like a museum than a house. Not to mention the fact that she's never really liked the Lockwoods. Tyler's okay but she remembers his dad and how much of a dick he was. Then she feels bad for thinking that in his house. Tyler shows her all the rooms and Bonnie picks the same one as last time, the one she'd spelled for Damon and Stefan to kill Katherine in. Granted, they ended up leaving Katherine alive (idiots) but things will go differently this time. This time their target isn't going to leave alive to be put into a tomb.

The hybrids are still there but Tyler took her in through the back and up the other set of stairs. Tyler's family is the type to have two staircases. "Is the back set for commoners?" she'd asked.

"As if we let peasants see the upstairs."

She thinks she's supposed to be mortified because Caroline and Tyler talk about Bonnie having (and not having) sex but she isn't. Caroline's always had a strange interest in Bonnie being with boys. She was like that with Jeremy and she'll be like that for eternity. Literally. Bonnie thinks it has something to do with completing the circle. Elena had Stefan. Caroline had Matt (sort of) and Tyler (sort of). Therefore Bonnie must have someone. But Tyler doesn't seem to care that he knows intimate details about Bonnie's sex life so Bonnie figures there's no reason for her to care either.

Afterward, they linger awkwardly in the hallway. "So we're good to go?" Bonnie says.

"We're good to go."

"It's really happening." They're so close. Incredibly close. Bonnie can feel herself, her magic, thrumming. She wants to put it to use. She imagines it's the same for Tyler who has always been easy to wind up and has never had much of an issue with releasing his aggression. After this long, just talking about it, Bonnie figures he's more ready to put their plans into action than she is.

"I hope so."

"And Stefan's definitely coming?"

Bonnie had been worried about that. Stefan has the tendency to avoid situations in which he may see Damon and Elena interacting in their new, whatever-their-relationship-status-is way.

"I told you Caroline says he is," Tyler says. "She wants him to get out of the house so..." She's making him come. Neither of them wants to acknowledge how Caroline is encouraging Stefan to go to his death. Sometimes Bonnie wishes they'd picked Damon first because Damon deserves the sting of the element of surprise more.

They don't move.

"Oh, wait," Bonnie says. "The stake." She pulls it from her bag and holds it out to him. When Tyler takes it, it feels real. They're actually going to do this. They're going to kill Stefan Salvatore. With that stake. Welcome to Mystic Falls, the home of one less Salvatore.

* * *

Elena decides she doesn't want to go to Tyler's party and Bonnie hides her elation. Elena mentions Stefan going and how they talked one day at the Grill and how awkward it was and how she doesn't think she can go with Damon and see Stefan there. For some reason she feels bad about being with Damon now, though she still won't admit that she's  _with_ Damon. Bonnie thinks she should just be with Damon in all the ways girlfriends are with boyfriends if that's what she wants to do. Human Elena may have done that but Vampire Elena is too emotional and too guiltridden to manage it. Even though Bonnie is relieved she won't be there, a part of her wants to enlist Caroline in pulling Elena out of her funk. She tells Elena that if she's going to avoid every social event in town because she doesn't want Stefan to see her with Damon, then they should just quit now. Elena doesn't budge. _I'll go to the next one_ , she promises. Bonnie knows she's lying.  _  
_

Things have been quiet. No hunters. No hybrids. No Klaus.

It's strange that Klaus isn't there. He's never gone for long but now he leaves town for long periods of time and no one knows why. When he comes back, he's the same old Klaus. But him leaving is also helpful. One less person in Stefan's corner and Bonnie knows Tyler is glad he won't have to worry about Klaus "courting" Caroline. Bonnie thinks Elena may know what Klaus is doing on these trips he takes but she never talks about it and Bonnie's mind is too occupied with other things to ask.

Bonnie also thinks that Elena is asking Damon to make himself scarce when Bonnie and Caroline come over. Maybe it was because Bonnie refused to come over with Damon around that one time. And even though that wasn't the reason, Bonnie's glad she doesn't have to deal with him. Despite Caroline's suspicion that Elena is avoiding her, Bonnie brings her along when she stops by the Gilbert house and as suspected, Damon isn't there. Neither Caroline nor Bonnie has ever had a problem working with Damon if the situation called for it but they've never been on recreational fun terms with him either. Maybe Elena wasn't as aware of it before. Now that Caroline is showing her blatant preference for Stefan, maybe she thinks about it more.

The three of them sit in Elena's room and don't speak. Bonnie can't remember the last time they sat somewhere without any of them saying a word.

Finally Caroline speaks. She is sitting on Elena's windowsill with the sun shining on her hair. From where Bonnie sits on the floor, she looks angelic. "How's Jeremy doing?"

Elena is leaning against her headboard with her hands in her lap. She tugs on her fingers like she wants to pull them off. "Good," she answers. "He's just, you know, getting a handle on the hunter thing. How's Tyler?"

Bonnie almost says, "Good" before she remembers she's not supposed to know how Tyler is doing. Caroline says, "Better."

"How's it going with Shane, Bonnie?"

"I'm not having sex with him," Bonnie answers. It's only when Caroline and Elena remain completely silent that she realizes that wasn't what Elena meant. "I just...I assumed that's what you were going to ask about. That's what Caroline always wants to know about."

"No, I don't," Caroline insists. "But if that's what you're thinking about..."

"Isn't that illegal?" Elena asks.

"Isn't what illegal?"

Jeremy is standing in Elena's doorway. Bonnie will never get over how easily emo Jeremy and druggie Jeremy melted away to form  _this_  Jeremy. Broad chested and tall with biceps almost as big as Bonnie's head. She remembers the other day at the school, when they told him to kill a vampire to help Elena.  _Give me a stake, I'll kill Damon right now_.

If only.

Though Bonnie had told herself she would do her best not to find Jeremy Gilbert attractive ever again, she was painfully attracted to him that day.  _  
_

"Having sex with college professors," Caroline says. "Do you know what the age of consent is in Virginia?"

Bonnie doesn't look at Jeremy. Caroline just wants to make Jeremy jealous for her sake. No, Bonnie doesn't need Elena's little brother because she's got a super hot, magically knowledgeable professor just waiting to write her a stellar letter of recommendation and do her on his desk. But Bonnie can't resist and she glances in Jeremy's direction. His eyes are narrowed and he's staring at Bonnie confusedly.

"I don't know it," he says finally, looking up at Caroline. "Try Google."

"We will, thank you," Caroline says.

Jeremy leaves and Bonnie closes the door with her mind. "So I guess the actual magic thing is going well, too," Elena comments.

Bonnie tells her it is.

"I'm sorry," Caroline says loudly. "Are we just going to pretend like we didn't notice what happened here?"

"What happened?" Elena asks.

"Jeremy was totally jealous just then! He still wants the Bon."

The ice is broken.

Welcome to Mystic Falls, where all it takes is making an ex-boyfriend jealous.


	6. Lather, Rinse, Repeat History, Part 1

Bonnie gets to Tyler's early. Both because she wants to make sure she's ready to kill Stefan and because Caroline makes her. Like she agreed, Caroline did her makeup and they got dressed together. Even though Bonnie reminds Caroline that it's just a house party at Tyler's, Caroline is on some kind of glamour kick and makes Bonnie wear a dress because Caroline is also wearing a dress. Bonnie would have preferred jeans for this occasion but she can't exactly tell Caroline to let her wear pants because she's going to be killing Stefan Salvatore tonight and she doesn't want her ass to hang out in the process. So Bonnie ends up at Tyler's in a black sequined dress and a pair of Caroline's skyscraper heels.

Tyler set aside a couple cans of beer for Caroline. And for Bonnie, as promised.

"I told you I would," he says.

There has never been a Lockwood party Tyler is less interested in, except for perhaps the one that Klaus made him throw once. Bonnie notices him staring at the front door in between dancing with Caroline. He barely drinks anything though he carries around a beer. Bonnie is the same. When Stefan arrives, Bonnie feels electricity in her bones, cycling through her like liquid. Caroline was worried Stefan wouldn't show but he promised he would and Stefan values oaths sworn to Caroline. Caroline hands him the beer Bonnie isn't going to drink and pulls him with her onto the makeshift dance floor.

Bonnie and Tyler watch them go.

"Nice party," Bonnie says.

Tyler glances around the room.

"What?" Bonnie questions.

"I'm just looking for your professor."

"He's not  _my_  professor."

"Is there nothing else to talk about in this town?"

Jeremy is everywhere these days.

"Gilbert, you made it." Tyler and Jeremy do that thing guys like to do, the thing with their hands and then a clap on the back. Bonnie sighs and looks away. Why does Jeremy insist on wearing shirts that show off how big his arms are?

"Yeah. Hey, Bonnie."

"Hey."

The three of them linger without speaking. Of all the times for Caroline to go and be Stefan's Lexi surrogate.

"Did you get something to drink, Gilbert?"

"I'm not drinking tonight."

"DD?"

"No. I just don't want to tonight."

Tyler looks at him like that's the dumbest thing he's ever heard. "Then why did you come?"

"There were some people I wanted to see."

Bonnie doesn't need to be a witch to know that Jeremy is talking about her and she  _really_ doesn't have to be one to notice him looking at her as he says this. She wills Tyler to stay put. Jeremy has been mostly unconcerned with Bonnie since their breakup. She stopped his heart and brought him back and they said nothing about it. He held her when the spirits brutalized Grams and they said nothing about it. Why start talking about their short lived romance now? Thankfully, Tyler seems to get it and doesn't leave. They're in sync now.

Jeremy doesn't agree and tries to get Tyler to go.

"Shouldn't you find Caroline?"

"I know where she is."

"But shouldn't you go talk to her?"

"...No?"

Jeremy shoots him a dirty look that Bonnie pretends not to notice.

"Bonnie, can you find Caroline?" Tyler asks.

It's a good out. "Sure."

Jeremy doesn't follow. Caroline is an even tougher crowd and Bonnie reaches her within seconds. The blond tugs on Bonnie's hand and tells her to dance.

* * *

"Been reading  _Cockblocking for Dummies_?" Jeremy is annoyed.

"That implies," Tyler says, "that without me in the way said cock would have been going somewhere. Do yourself a favor and don't go there with Bonnie. Not again."

"Since when do you have an opinion on me and Bonnie?"

"Since Caroline."

Caroline told him that Jeremy got testy when he heard them talking about Bonnie and the Fratty Professor. She also told him how she thinks Bonnie still likes Jeremy a little bit, even though she doesn't  _want_  to like him and really doesn't want to admit she still does. But there's more now that Tyler can see Bonnie's face when she talks about the professor and the way she angles her body when Jeremy's around and how her heartbeat changes ever so slightly when it comes to either of them.

"What does Caroline say?"

Tyler doesn't answer. Caroline would kill him.

"Did you and Bonnie ever have sex?" he asks instead.

Jeremy makes a weird sound. "I'm sorry, did we reach that point in our friendship where we talk about the sex we have?"

Tyler raises his eyebrows. "So you did have sex?"

"Or don't have."

"So you didn't?"

"I'm not telling you!" Jeremy folds his arms across his chest like that's going to make the conversation stop. "Didn't  _Caroline_  tell you?"

"Caroline doesn't know."

"Bonnie didn't tell her?"

"Is there something to tell?"

"I mean Caroline could just ask Bonnie if she's so interested."

"Caroline doesn't like to broach the subject much. Seeing as how you cheated on her best friend with a  _ghost_."

Jeremy sighs. "I want a beer after all."

Tyler focuses his attention on Caroline, Bonnie and Stefan. They look like the only people taking the dancing part of this party seriously. Stefan is sandwiched between the two girls and Tyler isn't sure whether he's amused or infuriated by the sight. Stefan doesn't touch either one of them, not with his hands at least, though he's facing Caroline. But he's obviously hyper aware of Bonnie at his back and keeps rhythm with her hips. The image of Bonnie forcing a stake through Stefan's back makes Tyler smile.

Welcome to Mystic Falls, where the party has yet to begin.

* * *

Stefan slips away from Bonnie and Caroline, promising to return. The girls close the gap he leaves and dance with each other. Stefan's smiling and drinking and actually behaving like a normal person. Bonnie curses Jeremy for making her uncomfortable enough to join them over here because she's now looking at Stefan like a person and not one of the vampires that has cost her and Tyler so much.

"Jeremy's looking at you," Caroline whispers, sliding her arms around Bonnie's waist.

Bonnie isn't going to turn around. "Of course he is."

"If you'd just invited  _Atticus_  like I told you to..."

" _I_ don't even call him Atticus." She should have known not to tell Caroline Shane's first name.

"Of course you don't. His name is Atticus. Shane is  _much_ hotter."

"I don't know, Jeremy has bigger arms," Bonnie says, "and Shane's kinda slim."

Caroline throws back her head and laughs. "Bonnie, you  _barely_ had one beer. Get it together."

Bonnie realizes her mistake and blames it on her preoccupation with other things that will be happening tonight.

She doesn't know how much longer she and Caroline dance together. Songs come and go and they sing along to all of them. When Stefan comes back he reclaims his spot between them and that annoys Bonnie because Caroline is hers and he's just ruining it. She starts grinning when she thinks of him being dead soon.

* * *

Tyler doesn't know where Jeremy went. He's probably making googly eyes at Bonnie from a corner somewhere and reminiscing over the sex they had (or didn't have). It's impossible to think of anything  _but_  killing Stefan. If he didn't know Bonnie was in on it, he'd think she knew nothing about it from the way she's gyrating with Caroline and the newly returned Stefan. As far as Tyler can tell, Bonnie's not thinking of anything but the way she fits with Stefan and Caroline and song lyrics.

People are still coming in. They'll keep coming in until Tyler locks the door. He sees April Young, the annoying girl from school. He doesn't know her and doesn't want to but sometimes he sees her with Jeremy and Matt. He's not surprised when Jeremy appears to talk to her and guides her into the kitchen. Matt is another story. He may be working but Tyler doesn't know. Once, he pretty much had Matt's work schedule memorized and now he has no idea. A bitter part of Tyler thinks  _Elena's not here so Matt probably won't have that great of a time anyway._  He sends Matt a text asking if he's working tonight.

A flash of movement at the front door attracts his attention.

Elena.

It's Tyler's turn to sigh though it comes out more like a groan. He was expecting her to be there until Caroline told him otherwise and he's sure her decision to stay home relaxed him and Bonnie both (for very different reasons). But now she's here and Tyler wishes he hadn't gotten so comfortable with the notion of an Elenaless evening.

Bonnie won't be affected by it. Or at least he hopes she won't. She'd tweaked her glamour plans a little bit because Elena wasn't coming but it's easy enough to return to the original plan. Elena there or not, Stefan will be dead in a few hours.

* * *

Bonnie tears herself away from Caroline and Stefan, tired from all the dancing and also tired of seeing Stefan acting like a decent person. Tyler is standing along the wall. She wonders if he's moved.

"Having fun?" he asks.

"More than you apparently."

_Just wait until later. We'll both be having a good time._ "Elena's here."

"She is?"

Bonnie tries to pick her out in the packed living room but doesn't see her. "Where is she?"

"She went into the kitchen but that was awhile ago. I'm sure she'll find you eventually."

"Did she bring Damon?"

"Not that I saw."

Bonnie wonders how Stefan will react to encountering Elena without her new Salvatore boyfriend, at a party that she never would have hesitated to show up to with Stefan.

"I'll find her."

Tyler grunts his approval.

Bonnie goes into the kitchen but doesn't see Elena there. So she heads back into the living room and she's not there either.  _This house is too big,_ she thinks as she wanders around further, peeking into other rooms. It's just like Elena to come to this thing and then hide out because she's changed her mind again. Bonnie reaches the home office, which once belonged to Tyler's dad. She remembers being in here once.

Elena is sitting at the desk, spinning around in the leather chair.

"What are you doing?" Bonnie asks.

The chair comes to a slow stop.

"Bonnie! Hi!"

"I thought you said you weren't coming tonight."

Elena shrugs her shoulders. She's wearing a pair of super tight jeans and a purple jacket. Her hair is down, pin straight and shiny. "I changed my mind."

"Where's Damon?"

"We had a...thing."

"By thing do you mean fight?"

Elena drums her fingertips on the desk's surface. "I guess."

"What about?"

"He asked me why I didn't want him to come here with me tonight."

"Oh." Bonnie can't say she didn't know this was going to happen. It was the only thing that could happen. It's Damon and it's Elena. Neither of them has changed  _that_ much. "Well, do you want to come outside?"

"I didn't want to interrupt," Elena says. "I saw you guys dancing. Do you think Stefan and Caroline are-"

" _No._ "

Caroline is in love with Tyler. Stefan is still in love with Elena.

"Come outside," Bonnie urges. "Let's have some fun."  _Before tomorrow when you freak out because Stefan's missing_.

Elena nods her head. She's still tapping her fingers on the desktop. Bonnie's gaze drops to her hand. "Well," she says, when it looks like the brunette isn't going to get up, "I'll be out there when you decide to come."

Bonnie returns to the living room. Caroline and Stefan are still dancing and Tyler hasn't moved from the wall.

"We have a problem," she tells him.

"What kind of problem?"

"Katherine is here."


	7. Lather, Rinse, Repeat History, Part 2

_Well, fuck_.

Tyler leads Bonnie to his bedroom where the music is faded and muffled. Caroline didn't seem to notice them leaving. She's too occupied with Stefan.

He's only just closed the door when he speaks. "You're sure it was Katherine?"

"Positive. She wasn't wearing Elena's ring."

Tyler marvels at how Elena and people with her face are managing to screw up everything for him lately. He sits down on his bed and runs his fingers through his hair. "We didn't plan for this."

"Why would we have planned for it? Katherine's supposed to be in hiding."

"Yeah. So why is she here? Caroline said Katherine wants to be as far from Klaus as possible at all times."

Bonnie sits beside him on the edge of the bed, looking small and sparkly on the plaid sheets. "Klaus isn't here," she reminds him. "And Stefan is single."

"She came back for  _Stefan_?"

Bonnie throws up her hands. "Don't ask me. I stopped being able to see the appeal awhile ago."

Tyler rests his elbows on his knees and heaves a giant sigh. "So what do we do?"

Telling the others complicates their plans.  _A lot_. If Katherine's there for Stefan, she's going to be keeping a close eye on him and it's unlikely she'll stand by and let him be staked. But Tyler thinks a witch and a hybrid might be intimidating enough for Katherine to stand down. But she's old and Bonnie says her aneurysms don't work on Katherine. But Bonnie's got other magic and all Tyler would have to do is bite her. Even if Klaus would give her his blood, he's far away. And he must be far or else Katherine wouldn't have risked coming back, single Stefan or not. She won't be able to survive.

"Do you think we can take them both?" Tyler asks.

"We decided we couldn't take Damon and Stefan at the same time," Bonnie reminds him. "What makes you think we can take Stefan and Katherine?"

"I don't know," he says. "I think we're more prepared than you think. If you ask me, we can do it. You take Katherine. I'll take Stefan. Unless you'd rather deal with Stefan."

"And if we can't? We risk getting ourselves killed," she says, "or one of them managing to get away. And either of them escaping means they'll tell the others. Katherine won't keep that a secret any more than Stefan would."

"They won't escape," Tyler says. "We get them into the room and they're locked in."

"And so are you. If either of them manages to do anything to me, you'll have to deal with both of them alone. And they  _will_  kill you."

"Well, we're not calling it off," Tyler says.

"No, we're not," Bonnie agrees. "We just have to think some more. There's a way around this." She's thinking."The glamour. I'll do one for Katherine, too."

"Are you going to be able to do that?"

Bonnie nods. "I just have to switch it up a little. I still need Elena to get Stefan to the room. So  _I'll_  be Elena."

"What?"

"Watch."

Bonnie goes into his bathroom. Elena steps out. And it  _is_  Elena. Down to the ring on her finger.

"I had to go in the bathroom," Bonnie explains, "so you wouldn't see me change. If I'd done it right in front of you, it wouldn't have worked."

"Why not?"

"It's an illusion. If you know it's me you're looking at from the start, your brain won't believe it."

Tyler blinks. "Sounds complicated. So, what about Katherine?"

"I'll do what we were originally planning," Bonnie says. "I can create a separate illusion for her. To distract her."

"What are you going to show her?"

"Klaus. Hopefully all she'll need is a glimpse of him to decide to leave."

* * *

Tyler distracts Caroline. All it takes is a whispered request to dance and he's pulling her into a secluded corner where she kisses him while Bonnie peeks around the corner. She feels around the room for Katherine, something else dead. But all she lands on are a few of the remaining hybrids and Stefan. Wherever Katherine is now, she's not making her move yet and if she was, she'd only see Elena. Bonnie tries to forget how that may be a problem as well.  If she thinks of one more thing that could go wrong, she won't go through with it.

 _You don't need to be afraid_.  _Of anyone_.

Bonnie reaches Stefan and touches his shoulder. When he spins around to face her, his mouth drops open. "Elena," he says. "Caroline said you weren't coming."

"I changed my mind."

Bonnie can hear Elena's voice, a running current beneath her own. All Stefan hears is Elena.

"I wanted to talk to you," she said. "If you don't want to-"

"No," Stefan says, cutting her off. "Let's go." He's so eager it's sad. Weeks later, after all this time with Caroline trying to get him over the breakup, nothing has changed. Nothing will ever change.

Bonnie leads. When they reach the stairs, she glances around. With a flutter of her eyelids, an image of Klaus appears. He's standing at the door with his arms hanging loosely at his sides. No one else acknowledges him. Not even Stefan. He is for Katherine only.  _She just has to see him_. Katherine is good at self-preservation, maybe better than all of them. She won't stick around if she thinks Klaus is there. Not even for Stefan. Bonnie smiles to herself as she and Stefan reach the landing and she leads him to the room he'll die in.

* * *

Tyler watches Elena -  _Bonnie_  - disappear up the stairs with Stefan. Caroline doesn't notice. She's been drinking and she's so excited that they're having fun together that no one could distract her from that. But Tyler knows he has to go. There's only so much bullshit Bonnie will be able to spew before Stefan makes a move on her and Bonnie may be up for lots of things, but Tyler doesn't think that extends to making out with Stefan to sell the Elena angle.

"I'm really glad you did this," Caroline says. She's still speaking clearly but her tone's lighter than usual, even for Caroline. She holds his hand in a loose grip, her hand small and dainty inside his. "It's nice, you know, to just have fun again. We never have fun anymore. Nothing's fun anymore."

"Yeah," Tyler agrees. He promises himself that he'll have more fun once this over. Fun with Caroline. Fun with Gilbert. Fun with Bonnie even, if she wants. He can be Tyler Lockwood again. Tyler Lockwood, privileged rich boy with an attitude problem. He can be that if he wants. He can be anyone else he wants. Once he's free. Free of the Salvatores, free of Klaus. Then they can have fun.  _Real_  fun. Getting high in the woods, drinking in the dark like stupid teenagers fun instead of playing the game of Life or Death every other day.

Caroline throws her arms around her neck. "I love you, okay?  _I love you_."

"I know. I love you, too."

"Are you sure? I know we're having problems but we're fixing them, right?"

Tyler looks at her. She's still that same Caroline, the one who was never sure if anyone loved her like they said. "I'm sure. And yes,we're fixing them."  _One of them will be fixed by the end of the night._

He sees Caroline exhale. Happily. She was worried. "Will you dance with me?"

"I..." He thinks of Bonnie upstairs. But Caroline...who was so happy only minutes ago and so sad so suddenly, needs him.  _Just give me a few minutes, Bonnie._ "Yeah."

* * *

Bonnie's mind is in two places. Upstairs with Stefan, telling him things Elena would say. Downstairs with Katherine. Klaus is only walking. He picks up a drink and swallows it down even though it's cheap and the stuff only teenagers would enjoy. He hasn't found her yet. He hasn't even made eye contact. Maybe she's seen him by now. Maybe she's already gone. But Bonnie feels the house again. The numbers haven't changed. Katherine is still there. Bonnie wants to go further, wants to  _see_ Katherine, but doing so could push her harder than she intends. Either illusion could break at any moment. And with Stefan right in front of her, this one seems especially important.

He's saying something. Half her mind comprehends. The other only wants Katherine.

 _Find her_.

Klaus moves toward the office. Katherine isn't there anymore but he lingers for awhile. He takes a loop across the floor, sidestepping people that don't see him anyway, people that he doesn't even exist to.

Bonnie reaches out again, more insistent this time.  _Find her_. She's not downstairs anymore.

"Am I interrupting?"

Klaus sputters and disappears.

Katherine stands at the door. She's not inside, not yet. A single step and she will be.

 _History repeating_.

"...Katherine?"

Stefan has caught on to her a lot easier than he has to Bonnie. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to pull you out of your funk," Katherine says. "Just in time, too." Her gaze slides over Bonnie easily, like she's an insect that Katherine would love nothing more than to crush. The illusion is holding. She's still Elena. She can stay Elena. But she can be Klaus, too. She just has to make sure Katherine doesn't come in. If she comes in, she's trapped inside until Bonnie frees them. And her and Tyler will be forced to deal with Stefan  _and_ Katherine. She  _can't_  come inside. Bonnie has to play it just right. Klaus coming up from behind will force Katherine into the room with them, looking for another means of escape.

 _Don't come in_.

Klaus appears in the adjoining bathroom. He turns as if to look at his own reflection in the mirror.

In front of Bonnie, Katherine moves to step inside.

 _No_.

It's magic Bonnie's never done before. Magic that she always planned on trying, just not tonight and not under these circumstances. Shane introduced her to it.  _It's compulsion basically. Without the vampirism._ Bonnie had agreed. Witches made vampires. If vampires can compel people then of course she can. That was why she'd studied the grimoires for any information she could gather about it. She hadn't gotten around to trying it. Until now.

 _You don't want to come in,_  Bonnie thinks. You _want to stay out there. Keep your distance._

Katherine pauses midstep, looking confused. She moves backward though she doesn't seem to know why and looks up at Stefan. She blinks and seems to find herself again but she's not entering and that's good enough. "How about me and you go downstairs for a drink and a dance?"

"I'll pass," Stefan says.

Katherine pouts. " _Stefan_ , she chose Damon. Only one person in this room wants you. And _only_  you."

Bonnie has a vague recollection of Katherine in fact wanting Stefan  _and_  Damon. But then again, she wants Stefan more so maybe that counts.

Stefan still isn't moving. Katherine take another step and Bonnie grasps Katherine's mind to pull her back.  _No. Stay there._

"Do I need to take you out of here myself?" Stefan hisses.

"Stefan," Bonnie says, remembering her voice, remembering who she is. Who she's supposed to be.

He moves toward the door.

Bonnie's mind reaches for him, too. She can feel her magic, being pulled and stretched and not in the good way. Not in the way that Shane tells her to.  _It's a muscle, Bonnie_. She's overexerting it. But she doesn't have a choice.

_Don't, Stefan. Stay here. You don't need to go out there. She'll leave._

Stefan freezes in place, suddenly hesitant. Bonnie's hold slips and he takes another step, toward Katherine, toward the door, toward the barrier that will alert him to everything wrong that's happening here.

 _NO._ Bonnie feels as though she's grasping for something slippery and her hands keeping sliding off. She can't get a good grip.

And Katherine is moving, too. She wants to meet him halfway.

Bonnie panics and grasps at Klaus. He's still in the bathroom, his shape just waiting for his orders. She guides him to the bathroom door. All Katherine has to do is  _see_  him.

"Elena."

Stefan is speaking in that concerned voice he uses. It sounds genuine now. Of course it is, when he's speaking to Elena. Bonnie remembers she's Elena and she turns her head to him.

"You're bleeding," he says.

 _No_.

Bonnie can feel liquid on her lip. She presses her fingers to her nose. They come away bloody.

_No._

The image of Klaus disappears. Bonnie's fingers twitch as if to physically grab onto him and keep him. But she finds nothing and no matter how hard she tries, she can't bring him back. The blood seems to be coming on faster now.  _The stake. Find the stake._ Use _the stake._

But she can't find it either. She knows where they hid it, beneath one of the cushions in the chair in the corner. Before Bonnie would have been able to levitate it easily. It doesn't matter which one she stakes now. Katherine to shut her up, Stefan to finish the job. Just one of them. But she can't hold it. Every time she thinks she has a hold on it, she loses it.

The blood dribbles onto her bottom lip.

"Elena," Stefan says, gripping her shoulders.  _Stay Elena. Stay Elena. You are Elena._ She tells herself she can hold this one at least. This one is easy. But it feels harder now. There's a weight on her that wasn't there before. Her head is starting to hurt and the blood is still coming. "What's wrong with you?"

 _Tyler, where_ are _you_?

Katherine shifts and Bonnie sees her tilt her head to the side, narrowing her eyes. She is Elena but not Elena. They are both Elena tonight.  _Stay Elena._

The other false Elena speaks. "She's human."

Welcome to Mystic Falls, where being human is a real problem.


	8. Lather, Rinse, Repeat History, Part 3

Tyler hits the landing. He hears Katherine talking. "She's human."

 _Fuuuuuuuck._ Tyler speeds to the door, standing several feet back. Katherine doesn't notice him.

Stefan doesn't understand what Elena being human means. Neither of them does, not yet. Bonnie is still Elena at the moment but judging from the nosebleed she's sporting, she won't be for long. "Elena?" Stefan says. "What's going on?"

Bonnie gaze finds Tyler's. She shakes her head slightly. And her voice is in his head. _They'll kill us both_. It seems to take something out of her and she stumbles. Stefan holds her up. But she's still Elena. She's still Elena.

Tyler thinks he may be able to take Katherine. She won't stick around if he bites her but what if she does? There's too much uncertainty. Bonnie would tell him not to.

"Let's sit down," Stefan says. He's so occupied with her that he doesn't even glance in Tyler's direction. From Katherine's body language, she's just annoyed.

"Did someone manage to find that cure you've been babbling on about?" Katherine asks.

Tyler doesn't have time to think about a cure (whatever the hell  _that_  means) because Bonnie is in his head again.  _Jeremy_.

If they had more time (and more privacy) he'd argue with her. Jeremy is a hunter but he's Elena's brother and Tyler is wary of anyone who lays claim to a super special relationship with Elena. For now, he thinks Bonnie is the only one he can stand. He knows nothing about Jeremy's relationship with Stefan but if it's like anyone else's relationship with him, it's better than theirs with Damon. Jeremy might not help them.

But he'll help Bonnie.

He finds Jeremy in the kitchen with April, who is an obvious lightweight and shouldn't have been let in the door. "Gilbert," Tyler barks, grabbing his arm. "Come with me."

"What for?" Jeremy still sounds bitter about their earlier exchange but he comes along without much protest, until they're out in the hallway.

"Me and Bonnie need your help."

"Bonnie?"

"How drunk are you?"

"Not. I'm still on my first drink. What's going on?"

"I'll explain later," Tyler says. "Like, tomorrow. Do you have anything with you? Anything hunter...like?"

Jeremy is confused. "I have some of Connor's stuff in the car. I haven't used much of it yet but-"

"Do you have vervain?" Caroline's said that Stefan started building up a tolerance and he knows Katherine is all but immune to it now. It may not work but whatever advantage they can get now that Bonnie's help is so uncertain. He shouldn't have stayed with Caroline. Who knows what Bonnie had to do up there to keep them both at bay and now he's sure she's too weak to do what they'd planned. If taking Stefan and Katherine was a risk before, it's an even bigger one now.  _  
_

"Yeah. What's happening? Where's Bonnie?"

"Go get the vervain and whatever else you think you could use to kill a vampire."

"So basically everything in the car," Jeremy says. "Is there a vampire here?"

"There's  _always_  a vampire here. Just get the stuff. The room that you used to trap Katherine last time, you remember which one that was?"

Jeremy nods.

"Meet me there. You'll see when you get there. And  _hurry up_." He's about to go but stops and grabs Jeremy's arm again. "If you see Caroline,  _don't_  tell her."

* * *

Katherine looks like she wants to keep as much space between herself and Bonnie as possible. Maybe it has something to do with them thinking Elena's human again. She stands just behind the spell's barrier. At least that one won't break. "Elena," Stefan says, "talk to me. What's going on?"

Bonnie couldn't speak even if she wanted to. It's like her jaw has been wired shut. Even thinking has become difficult. Talking to Tyler took more out of her than she anticipated and now she doesn't even think she can stand  _and_  keep up Elena's appearance. She stares down at her trembling fingers and sees her nail polish. Elena's nails have no polish on them. She manages to ball her hands into fists and hides them.

"Another day, another Elena drama," Katherine comments.

" _Shut up_ ," Stefan hisses.

Katherine rolls her eyes. "How none of you are sick of this yet is a mystery. How about some self-sufficiency,  _Elena_?"

"What's going on up here?"

Tyler's voice is a godsend.

 _Finally_.

He looks back and forth between Bonnie and Katherine. "Katherine, I assume," he says.

"Tyler Lockwood," she says. "We haven't officially met."

"But you made sure I activated my curse."

Katherine shrugs her shoulders. "Bitter, table for one?"

Tyler puts himself between her and the door but stays outside it still. If Jeremy's coming, he betrays nothing and Bonnie can't even begin to enter his mind and ask. "What's wrong with Elena?" he asks.

"I don't know," Stefan answers. "She's human. I don't understand."

 _A cure,_ Katherine said. What cure? Bonnie knows without having to dwell on it that it's something she's been left out of the loop on.  _Again_. But her mind can't make room for it right now. There's already a lot going on in there.

"Human? Is that why Klaus is on his way back?"

Katherine stiffens behind him. "Come again, Lockwood?"

_Yes. Klaus. Use Klaus._

"One of the hybrids called a few minutes ago," Tyler says. The lie rolls off his tongue effortlessly. "Klaus just got back in town. He's on his way here. They wouldn't say why."

"I guess that's your cue, Katherine," Stefan says.

"I'm inclined to agree," the other vampire sighs. "That's too bad though. I wanted to talk about us."

Stefan rolls his eyes. He wipes the blood from Bonnie's face with his sleeve. "Whatever this is," he says, "you're gonna be fine." The smile he gives her is probably reassuring to Elena but it only annoys Bonnie. She clings to the illusion.  _Hold it. Keep holding it_. It's the only reason she's still conscious. She just needs to give Jeremy and Tyler some time. It annoys her even more, to depend on Jeremy in this, but it may be the only chance they have.

* * *

 _I'm going to kill Gilbert_ , Tyler thinks. He's taking his sweet time and Tyler wonders if he's gotten caught up. Maybe April tried to talk to him. Or even Caroline. Jeremy would have no problem shaking April but Caroline would be difficult. He'd go downstairs himself but leaving Bonnie isn't an option and Katherine  _still_  isn't leaving. Maybe her fear of Klaus isn't as all consuming as they thought. She comes to stand on the other side of him, painfully close to the barrier

"Isn't self preservation supposed to be your game?" he says. "Do you want to end up with your heart and head on opposite sides of this room?"

Katherine looks at him with narrowed eyes. "For a hybrid-"

Tyler doesn't find out what he is (for a hybrid) because suddenly there's a stake embedded in Katherine's chest. A few inches shy of her heart but it's in there all the same. And that matters very little to Tyler because Katherine staggered, taking a few steps back. She's over the line.

_Fuck._

Jeremy is standing a few feet back, holding up some weird hunter type contraption. It's not a crossbow but something like it. He queues up another stake as Katherine pulls hers free. But when she steps toward him, she hits the wall. "I see you're up to the same tricks," she says. _  
_

Stefan is staring but he has a look on his face, like he doesn't fully understand it.

Jeremy aims at her again and Katherine stares, daring him to do it.

There's a look on Jeremy's face that Tyler hasn't seen before. Something dark. Something dangerous.

There's no time to think about it. Stefan might be catching on at any moment. And Bonnie won't last forever.

Tyler speeds over the line and launches himself at Stefan. If Jeremy's confused, he doesn't show it. And Katherine is too occupied with the stakes Jeremy is sending at her heart to help Stefan.

The vampire's hands grip Tyler's throat, holding him back. Tyler's fangs are bared and his body hot with the possibility, the expectancy. It's so close. One bite. They can keep Stefan in this room the whole time the venom works its way through. He'll be dead. "What are you  _doing_?" Stefan hisses.

* * *

Bonnie sees it happening. It's happening. Finally happening. Jeremy is keeping Katherine busy and she's not even trying to help Stefan. They can do this. But they can't. She knows they can't.

 _A cure_.

Stefan knows about a cure. Bonnie knows  _nothing_  about a cure.

She exhales slowly and shuts her eyes. She's been holding onto this illusion for so long, it's hard to let it go but when it slides away it's as if a weight has been lifted. Her limbs feel like they weigh a ton but she's herself again. She wipes what remains of the blood away. When she stands, it's on shaky legs. She barely acknowledges Tyler and Stefan or Jeremy and Katherine until Jeremy cries out and she turns.

He's not hurt.

Katherine's skin is grayed and brittle looking and the stake juts up from her chest like a sick lawn ornament.

He hit her heart.

Their eyes meet for a moment. Him, wondering where his sister went and where Bonnie came from. Her, trying to think of an easy way to explain. But they're both saved from awkward questions when Tyler is flung across the room. His body bounces off the barrier at the doors and falls but he's up in seconds, fangs bared and eyes dark and narrowed. He goes for Stefan again.

"Jeremy," Bonnie says. She extends her hand and he takes it without hesitation. He remembers what she needs him for. She feels better. Powerful again. Her body is still weak but her magic is strong with Jeremy behind it, warm with blood and life and nature inside him.

"Tyler," she says. Her voice is only hers now. " _No_."

Stefan looks back and forth, from Tyler to Bonnie to Jeremy. "What are you doing? What _is_  this?"

"Nothing, Stefan," Bonnie says. "Nothing." She releases Jeremy's hand to approach him. She thinks he may try to hit her but he seems too confused. That's Stefan. Ask questions first. This is Bonnie he's looking at. Bonnie has never hurt him before. The good brother, the one she trusts. Bonnie would never hurt Stefan. Damon, maybe. Damon,  _definitely_ but not Stefan. She touches his chest, hard and cold against her skin. "You're going to be fine." His eyelids flutter and then close, and he hits the floor with a thump.

For a moment, they stare down at Stefan's prone body. Bonnie looks to Katherine. The other Elena. The one that came first. Tyler marches to her body and yanks the stake from her chest. He turns to Stefan. "Tyler,  _no,_ " she repeats.

"What do you mean  _no?_ This is what we've been planning!" _  
_

"I know," she says apologetically. "But I need to know about this cure."

Jeremy comes to stand closer to them. " _What_  have you guys been planning?"

Bonnie ignores him, keeping her eyes on Tyler. "Please, Tyler. This could be what we've all been looking for." She can save Elena from herself They can be normal again. She can see in Tyler's face it's not enough. "It could help the hybrids, too."

That gets his attention.

"They'll be werewolves again."

"They won't be  _sired_  anymore," Bonnie says. "Tyler, we  _will_  do this. Just not tonight. _Please_."

Tyler scowls and turns to the door before he's stopped short by the barrier. "Can you take this down?"

Bonnie nods. "Jeremy?" He offers her his hand again.

"You'll explain this, right?" he says.

"Yes." As soon as the barrier falls, Tyler speeds through the door and when Bonnie looks up at the space he vacated, the stake is lying there, discarded.

"So...do you want to explain now or later?"

Katherine is dead. Stefan is alive.  _For now_.

Welcome to Mystic Falls, where nothing goes as planned.

 


	9. We've All Died

Still alive. After all this, Stefan's still alive.

"What are you gonna do to him?" Jeremy asks.

Bonnie kneels next to the vampire. She can't stop staring at him. She can pretend he's dead this way. Still, not breathing, eyes shut. He could be dead.

"Bonnie?"

"I have to take his memories away."

"Are you sure you're strong enough?"

 _I will be_. Shane said she'd get better at this. Working it like a muscle, using power sources when she has to. Channeling Jeremy did wonders. "There's a place we can go. It'll work if I'm there. Will you help me with him?"

Jeremy nods. He doesn't seem phased by any of it. She still hasn't explained it to him even though Tyler left fifteen minutes ago and Bonnie can't feel him in the house anymore. She'll have to find him, but she has to do this first.

"What about Katherine?"

"We'll deal with her," Bonnie says. "But first, Stefan."

Jeremy has no problem carrying Stefan on his own. They take him down the back staircase and throw him in Bonnie's car. He's so tall they have to angle him weirdly. "He's gonna have a hell of a backache," Jeremy comments.

 _Good_.

When they return for Katherine, Jeremy throws her in the trunk. They gather up the rest of Jeremy's hunter stuff and Bonnie comes across a syringe of vervain. "Tyler wanted me to bring it," he said. "It wouldn't have helped much, huh?"

"Yeah, well, use what you've got."

"So... _which_  vampire did Tyler want me to kill?"

"The one you killed."

"But which vampire was  _supposed_  to die?"

"Look-"

"I get it," Jeremy says. "I  _really_  get it. Especially now." He touches the back of his hand where she knows his hunter's mark begins. She can't see it, but she wishes she could. The Jeremy she's known all these years is different and now, he's changing again. She wants to see what's changing him. "After I killed that hybrid, Chris."

"Tyler's friend."

"Yeah." Jeremy lowers his gaze. "I didn't know about it. I mean, Stefan didn't tell me what he'd done for us. If I'd known I wouldn't have done it."

"I know. Tyler knows, too," she adds. She doesn't know if it helps or even if Tyler knows. But he's not trying to kill Jeremy and they seem on good terms so maybe Tyler does know.

"But that's when it started. That's when I started feeling like..."

"Like?"

"I have to kill vampires," Jeremy said. "I  _have_  to." He looks away like he's done talking about this now. "So, are we ready?"

Bonnie wants to keep talking about him and having to kill vampires. She can see where this is going and it's not something she's opposed to. Tyler might be though with him being Elena's brother. And he's probably already pissed that she wouldn't let him kill Stefan. "We can talk more when we get where we're going. But I have to find Caroline first."

"Does she know?"

"No one knows but us."

"What are you gonna tell her?"

"That I'm leaving?"

Jeremy smiles. "I'll wait for you out here."

* * *

"Where did everybody go?" Caroline demands. She grips Bonnie's hands and pulls her to her. Even drunk she's still aware that she's stronger now and she pulls Bonnie delicately. "I can't find Stefan. Tyler blew out of here and I don't understand how he just leaves his _own_  party. And where have  _you_  been?"

"I'm leaving," Bonnie said.

"Why? The party  _just_ started."

"Jeremy," Bonnie says.

"What about him?"

"We're talking," Bonnie says. That's true.

"Oh. Ohhhhh. You're  _talking_." Her grin is so genuine that Bonnie can't help but smile. "I mean, you can totally do better. Like, older professor better but I guess you could also do worse. Like Damon." Sometimes Bonnie thinks Caroline would also get on a staking Damon train but she wouldn't if it meant hurting Stefan. If she knew what they'd been planning to do...  _  
_

Bonnie agrees. "Are you gonna be okay?"

Caroline nods. "Yeah, I'll be fine. I guess I'll just go to Tyler's room and...hang out until he gets back. Where do you think he went?"

Bonnie shrugs.  _I'll find out_.

Caroline hugs her and Bonnie tries not to think about Stefan in her backseat.

* * *

"Wickery Bridge?"

Jeremy followed her in his car. The bridge was never exactly the same to Jeremy as it was to Elena. He'd talked about that once. He knew this was where his parents died but he could cross it without thinking about it. All Elena did was think about it.

"I'm here for the water," she explains. "And the moon." It's full tonight. "Take Stefan to the water."

Bonnie kicks off her shoes. There's no way she's going to undress in front of Jeremy, no matter the circumstances. But she feels bad for her sparkly dress as she wades into the water. She doesn't go to the center this time but stays close to the edge where Jeremy sits. "Scared to get wet?" she asks.

"You know I'm not."

To remind her he comes in too and holds Stefan up so he doesn't sink.

"Do you need to channel me?" he asks. He almost sounds eager. It makes Bonnie smile.

"No. I'm fine."

Bonnie touches Stefan's forehead and shuts her eyes. The water is cool but she ignores it. Instead she focuses on the steady, low current and thinks of the moon. The energy. She envisions the rocks along the water's bottom, the trees around them. Life lives here. She feels strong again and she forgets what it was ever like to feel weak. Then she enters Stefan's brain. She picks out the pieces that she doesn't want. Her approaching him as Elena, wanting to talk. Katherine. Tyler attacking him. Her becoming herself again. She takes it all away and leaves him with pictures of dancing with Caroline while still pining over Elena.

It's easy.

Welcome to Mystic Falls, where not many things are.

"Now what?" Jeremy says when Bonnie opens her eyes again.

"He won't wake up until morning," she says. "He won't remember anything." Her gaze drops to Jeremy's wrist. She can see the tattoo there, the one Elena told her about. She reaches out to touch it and runs her fingers along its lines.

"You can see it?"

Bonnie nods.

"Only hunters are able to see it."

"Well, witches made hunters," she tells him. "It's probably just the magic."

"And the water? And the moon?"

"Yeah."

"Bonnie-"

"We should do something with Katherine." She pretends she doesn't realize she cut him off. Now isn't the  _best_  time to talk about them. Jeremy doesn't fight it.

"I can't believe I killed her," he says.

"You're a hunter now. It's what you do."

"I mean, I know what you wanted to happen didn't happen but...at least we made up for last year."

Bonnie smiles. "At least."

They pull Stefan from the water and leave him there at the water's edge while they get Katherine. "What are you going to do to her?" Jeremy asks.

"Well, I could burn her."

"Sounds like a plan."

Jeremy carries her into the trees and sets her down. While he takes Stefan back to the car, Bonnie sets fire to Katherine's remains and tries not to think of the other vampire doppelganger. She wonders if they'll ever be able to tell anyone that Katherine's dead. That would mean explaining it and all the things that came with it. But Katherine being dead is good news. Really good news. And they can't share it with anyone but each other. Jeremy returns soon after and he stands with her while Katherine burns. Bonnie's wet skin is warmed and dried by the fire but her dress will never be the same.

"What did you mean?" she asks. "About having to kill vampires?"

"I feel it. I'm stronger now. I'm faster. I'm  _better._ I'm not human anymore. I'm a  _hunter_. Hunters kill vampires."

"Elena's a vampire."

"I won't hurt her."

Bonnie knows he wouldn't if he could help it. Elena's the same way but she did kill Jeremy not too long ago. Maybe none of them can help it anymore. What if killing is becoming as natural as breathing?

"Are you going after them both?" he asks. "Stefan and Damon?"

"Yes."

"I want in."

Bonnie's not surprised. "I'll talk to Tyler."

* * *

Tyler left Mystic Falls. He returns to the town next to theirs where the bartender at a sketchy spot accepts his fake I.D. without question and passes him the beer he requests. Then the one he asks for after that. And after that. He has no idea how he'll get home. He could just run back if he wanted.

"Tyler."

Or maybe Bonnie will give him a ride.

He spins around on his bar stool. "Bennett," he says. "Want a drink?"

"You've had enough for the both of us." She sits down next to him and rests her arms on the bar. She's wearing a giant jacket over her sparkly dress. He thinks it may be Jeremy's. "I'm sorry about earlier. I know what we planned but it doesn't work right now."

Tyler nods his head slowly. He's been thinking about that. He spent all day, the past few days actually, imagining this happening. He got excited for it, prepared for it. Stefan Salvatore dead and his brother not too far behind.

"We will do this," she promises. "Just not tonight."

"Are we gonna wait until you find this  _cure_?"

"No," she says. "We're gonna wait until I find out what Stefan knows about this cure. And then we'll do it. You know why I have to do this, right? You know why this is important?"

Tyler downs the rest of his beer. "Because of  _Elena._ "

Bonnie opens her mouth to speak but Tyler stops her. "And the hybrids, of course. I'm not dumb, Bennett. You threw that in there for me. This is about Elena. Everything is about Elena Gilbert.  _Every fucking thing_. Mason died because of Elena. Jules died because of Elena. Chris died. Hayley died. For Elena. And so have you apparently. How many times exactly? Is it two or three? But know this. I won't die for Elena Gilbert. I've done it once but I won't do it again."  _  
_

Welcome to Mystic falls, where everyone's died at least once.

Bonnie loves Elena, he knows that. And he wishes he hadn't said anything because if there's one thing that will make Bonnie ditch him, it's Elena. He expects her to get up and leave any minute now. Instead, she says, "I won't let you. I meant it when I said I would help you. And we  _will_  do this. And we will cure the hybrids, too. I wouldn't make a promise to you that I didn't intend to keep."

Tyler nods silently.

"Jeremy wants to help."

Tyler laughs. "Oh yeah? Does he want help us or does he want to help  _you_?"

"He wants to kill Stefan and Damon."

"That's good enough for me. Has he considered the collateral damage?"

"You mean Elena? Yes. He's ready. He  _has_  to kill vampires."

"Yeah, like he killed Chris."

"Tyler-"

"I don't blame  _him_  for that. But I mean...come on." He shakes his head and changes the subject. "If he  _has_  to kill vampires, what makes you think he won't try with me?"

"He'll be fine," Bonnie assures him. "So will you. If he can keep himself from killing Elena, then he keep himself from killing you."

"We hope."

"Don't worry, Lockwood. I'll protect you."

Tyler smiles then lets out a heavy sigh. "I'm sorry about earlier. I should have been up there with you. I just...I got distracted. Caroline was...I'm just sorry."

Bonnie shrugs. "It ended up okay, didn't it?"

"We didn't kill Stefan."

"We would have if Katherine hadn't shown." They wouldn't know about the cure either, but Tyler doesn't say anything about that.

"Fucking vampires," Tyler says. "They ruin everything. So, where's Stefan now?"

"Well, I wiped his memories. And we got rid of Katherine's body. Tomorrow Stefan'll wake up - somewhere on your property, by the way - and he won't remember a thing that we did tonight."

"You're sure?"

"Positive."

"So, can you...drive me home?"

Bonnie smiles. "Yeah, I'll drive you home, Lockwood."

Tyler slaps some cash down on the counter without bothering to count it and follows Bonnie to the door. He throws an arm around her shoulders. She's tiny next to him. Caroline is taller. "So...did you  _channel_  Gilbert again?"

"Why are you trying to make it something dirty?"

Tyler laughs as they cross the parking lot. "I asked him."

"Asked who what?"

"I asked Gilbert if you two had sex."

Bonnie groans. "Seriously?"

He waits for her to say something else, like maybe she'll confirm or deny it. Instead, she says nothing and they reach her car. "He wouldn't tell me," Tyler says as she opens up the passenger door for him. The look she gives him with a sly little smirk tells him that she'll probably never tell him either.

"Good."

* * *

Bonnie leaves Tyler at his house. The party isn't going anymore. Caroline must have thrown everyone out. Bonnie wouldn't be surprised if she'd gone and compelled them all to leave one by one. She goes to Elena's house and texts Jeremy when she's outside. He comes down right away in a hoodie and sweatpants.

"Did you find Tyler?"

"Yeah. He's fine."

"Did you talk to him about me?"

Bonnie nods. "We're good. He has some reservations because you might try to, you know, kill him."

"No, I won't," Jeremy says. "We'll be fine. So how does this work?"

"We find times to meet. We plan. Then we do. And hopefully it goes better next time."

"Hopefully."

Jeremy glances back at the house. "You can come in, if you want. Elena's with Damon tonight. They don't hang out here that much actually. I don't think  _he_  likes it."

"Why not?" She pretends that he didn't ask her to come in.

Jeremy shrugs. "Might have something to do with how I keep threatening to stake him."

"Maybe."

They both laugh.

"You'll get your chance," she says.

"Is it too early to call dibs on staking Damon?"

"Me and Tyler might fight you for it."

Jeremy's smile widens. Then fades. "She's different."

"She's a vampire."

"But Caroline's not that different. Tyler isn't either. But she is."

"Yeah," Bonnie agrees. She remembers Elena in her living room. And she remembers Elena when they were little. They've all grown up and Elena died. Maybe that's all it is. They're still growing, still dying. They've all died. Jeremy. Tyler. Caroline. Even Matt. None of them are alive like they used to be. She thinks of Stefan again and how close they'd come. Stefan _will_  die. She knows a part of Tyler doesn't believe her. Maybe he thinks she's getting scared but she's not. The Salvatores  _will_  die.

"I tried to talk to her the other day about her and him," Jeremy says. Bonnie almost forgot where she was. "And she was...I mean, I asked if she understood why I hate him. And why Caroline does.

Elena's responses to Caroline have been...interesting to say the least. She goes around it, defends Damon in her way.  _It was a long time ago. He's different now_. Even Caroline gives up eventually. "What did she say?"

"Nothing. She didn't say a thing."

Bonnie arches her eyebrows. "Nothing?"

"Nothing," he repeats. "I'm not crazy about Stefan either but I mean, at least Stefan didn't kill me. At least he didn't hurt Caroline. It just isn't like her, you know. She used to care so much and now she doesn't really care at all and I don't get why."

Bonnie reaches out to rub his arm and then draws it away quickly. "I'll talk to her."

"Yeah, good luck with that." He slides his hands into his pockets and rocks back and forth on his heels. "Are you sure you don't want to come in?"

"Yeah, I should get home anyway."  _The empty house probably misses me_.

For a minute she thinks Jeremy will let her go without saying anything more but she's wrong.

"I know you don't want to talk about it, but I think we should talk. Not right now but eventually. I want to talk to you again." He smiles and she's reminded of that time last year, the first time they were trying to kill a vampire at the Lockwood place, when he asked her to dance. "There's so much I want to talk to you about. And not even stuff about us. Just stuff."

They never talk anymore. They talk about spells and her being strong enough or him coming back to life after she's killed him but they never just talk.

"I guess I could come in for like, a few minutes." She knows she'll get roped into staying for longer than that because Jeremy's arms are really big and he's smiling at her like he has a crush on her all over again and he's going to help them kill Stefan and Damon. And she can still see his tattoo and for some reason, she's really attracted to that even though she's never been the tattoo loving type.

Jeremy's face lights up. Like it did that time she let him kiss her in the hallway at school. "Okay, come on."


	10. Hunted

"Bonnie."

Bonnie opens her eyes to see Elena standing over her. The other girl looks at her curiously. "What are you doing here?" Elena asks.

"I...I slept here," Bonnie says, remembering. She'd stayed up with Jeremy, talking like he wanted to about nothing very significant. Like usual, they stayed away from the topic of their days as a couple. Instead, they talked about Jeremy being a hunter now, Bonnie getting her magic back on track. He'd listened while she told him what Shane had been teaching her and didn't make a single sarcastic comment or call him Professor Fratty or whatever it was Tyler liked to call him.

"I see that. Why?"

"It was late and I guess Jeremy didn't want to wake me." She shouldn't have fallen asleep here. Now Elena's going to think something's going on, and she'll never hear the end of it. "Where is he?"

Elena shrugs her shoulders. "He's not here. Did you guys...you know?"

Bonnie sat up. "No." Even they had, she wasn't about to tell Elena all the details. He was still her brother. "We were just talking."

"So how was the party?"

"Disappointing," Bonnie answers.  _In lots of ways_.

"So it's good we didn't come?"

 _Very_ , Bonnie thinks. She tries to think of some way to broach the subject of the cure without having to explain how she knows about it.

"There are some bagels somewhere," Elena says, "if you're hungry. I'm gonna call Jer."

"Before you do," Bonnie says, "I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?"

"You and Damon."

"What about us?"

Her and Damon are an  _us_  now. This is strange and unfamiliar. When Elena was with Stefan, especially when she first met him, all she did was talk about him. There was nothing that was off limits, nothing Bonnie didn't want to know. It was new and exciting and Elena was happy. She's happy now, or as happy as Elena can be.

"How are you doing?"

"Fine. Why? Did Caroline say something?"

"No. What would she have said?"

Elena sighs and turns to go into the kitchen. "What she always says."

"Well she's not wrong," Bonnie says. She's gentler than Caroline. She knows her role. Caroline has never been shy about taking Elena to task. Maybe it was because everyone thought Elena was better than Caroline and all Caroline could do to prove them wrong was to point out just when and why Elena wasn't better than Caroline.

Elena turns back around. "So you agree with her? It's not like I'm glad you guys hate him."

"And it's not like we don't have our reasons," Bonnie says. "You know we have reasons, don't you? You  _understand_  the reasons?"

"I'm not stupid, Bonnie." She sits down next to Bonnie on the couch and wrings her hands. "I wish I could talk to you guys about it. I  _am_  happy with him. I think I deserve to be happy after everything that's happened to us. Why's that wrong?"

"If you want to be with Damon then be with Damon," Bonnie says, "but don't expect Caroline to just fall in line. What he did to her was awful. Worse than awful. You know that. I know that.  _Everybody_  knows that."

"He's changed."

"When you turned, he tried to kill Matt," Bonnie reminds her. "And he turned Abby. He's the same just not with you. Don't ask us to be..." Bonnie didn't even know what Elena wanted them to be to Damon. Stefan had been better that way. He treated  _them_  better though if that had been enough, Bonnie wouldn't have almost watched him die last night. Elena couldn't expect them to approve.

"I'll talk to Caroline," Bonnie says. "I'll ask her to lay off."

"You mean you'll ask her to stop being so vocal about it."

"Yeah."

"Meanwhile every time I'm with you guys, I'll know you're thinking about how much you hate him."

"No we won't."  _There are much better things to think about_.  _Like Damon with a stake in his heart._

"Yes, you will. While you guys get to talk about Tyler or Jeremy or even that professor guy, I don't get to say anything about Damon? I'm  _happy_ , Bonnie and I don't get to share that with you?"

The back door slams shut. They both look around to see Jeremy coming in. Bonnie can't tell how much he heard.

"Jer, where've you been?" Elena asks.

"Don't act like you care."

Elena glances from Bonnie to Jeremy and back again. "Is something wrong?"

"Don't sit here and act like me and Bonnie and Caroline are important to you," Jeremy snaps. "If we were, you wouldn't be with Damon at all. And you  _definitely_  wouldn't be sitting here wondering why we don't want to deal with you two."

Bonnie can't tell if this is a throwback to emo Jeremy or not. It's weird to see him this way, with his new image. This new Jeremy talking like the old one. Except he's not talking like the old one. This one was broken by Damon where the other one never knew him.

"Jeremy-" Elena stands up and she has that look on her face, a mix between hurt and angry. "We talked about this."

"No, we didn't.  _I_  talked and you didn't listen. Don't pretend like you care about anyone that isn't yourself. Don't pretend like Damon's any good for anybody. And don't look us in the eye and tell us that you  _wish_  you could talk to us about him like it's our fault we don't want to hear how happy you are with the guy who has made all of us miserable at one point or another."

"That's not what I meant."

"That's exactly what you meant!"

Bonnie isn't sure what to do. This has crossed over into Gilbert family drama and maybe it's not her place to step in. Still, sitting on the couch between the two of them, standing and yelling, isn't her idea of a good time either. Especially not when she's still in that super short dress and she feels naked now that the sun is shining.

"Jeremy, I know-"

"You don't know! You don't care!"

Bonnie has never heard Jeremy yell before. Maybe a couple times when they were younger but that was just because he was being stupid. This is new. There's anger. Bonnie tries not to look at either of them. She thinks of just leaving and letting them work it out. She's decided that's the best thing to do when Jeremy reaches into his jacket.

The stake he withdraws is perfectly crafted. It's not the one from last night. This one is made of darker wood and the tip is as sharp as any blade.

"Jeremy." Bonnie and Elena speak at the same time.

"You're a vampire. I'm a hunter."

"I'm your sister."

"You're a vampire."

Bonnie stands between them. This is because of last night, she can see it now. He killed Katherine. Hunters have an urge to kill and now Jeremy's has been fully awakened. He got a taste of it with Katherine and now her doppelganger is just standing there, right in front of him. Another vampire. Another stake. Another heart to impale.

"Let's just calm down," Bonnie says. "You're both upset."

"I'm not upset," Jeremy says.

"Jeremy," Elena says again. She steps around Bonnie to approach him. That's Elena. Bonnie grips her hand. Jeremy isn't himself. He found Katherine's heart last night. There's no reason he won't find Elena's.

"Bonnie, let go," Elena says, shrugging her off. "Jeremy, whatever this is, we can get through it." She extends her hand to him.

Over Elena's shoulder, Bonnie eyes meet Jeremy's. She shakes her head slightly.  _She's your sister_ , she reminds him. He's heard her voice, she knows he has. But his grip on the stake is still tight.

"Jeremy," Elena says. "It's me."

Jeremy finally looks away from Bonnie and down at Elena. "Maybe that's the problem."

He's a hunter so he moves faster. Bonnie knows that but she's still surprised when he grabs Elena's outstretched hand and yanks her toward him. Bonnie hears herself call out as he shoves the stake up somewhere between Elena's ribs. Bonnie doesn't think he hit the heart and Jeremy knows it, too. He pulls out the stake. He'll drive it through again and this time he won't miss.

Bonnie pulls Elena backward. The other girl seems more shocked than anything. Her hands are clasped over her stomach and Bonnie shoves Elena behind her. She reaches for Jeremy. Her hands find his arm then his hand, the one not holding the stake. "Jeremy," she says.

"Bonnie, don't-"

Maybe he remembers the last time this happened. She doesn't find out before Jeremy has fallen onto the sofa, unconscious. Just like Stefan last night. Just like Jeremy when they tried to kill Klaus the first time.

"Elena," Bonnie says when she turns around. She's healing but the blood is everywhere. Somehow Elena smeared it around even more. It's all over her hands and her arms. There's some on her face.

"I have to go," Elena says.

"Wait," Bonnie says. "We can-"

" _I have to go_." She grabs her bag and is out the door before Bonnie can think up a single reason she should stay.

She fishes her phone from her bag, still sitting on the other chair. She starts dialing Tyler. But he's a hybrid and whatever Jeremy's dealing with, he might try to kill him, too. If that's the case, her earlier assurance Tyler would be safe with him isn't going to hold up. She can't call Caroline either.

She'll deal with it herself.

But she calls Tyler anyway.

* * *

Tyler sleeps in. When he wakes up Caroline is already awake and she's doing her hair in his mirror. By now she has double the hair products. One set for her house and another for his. "Hey, sleepyhead." She bounces over to sit next to him and plants a kiss on his mouth. "You ran off last night."

"I know," he says. "Sorry."

"Where'd you go?"

"I just went for a walk," he lies. It's not a foolproof lie but it's the best he can come up with first thing in the morning.

"And a drink? Or more?"

"Yeah."

"If this is about Hayley, you can talk to me," Caroline says. "I'm here for you."

"I know." Even now, he isn't sure he can talk to Caroline about Hayley. She was important to him and Caroline might associate that importance with something romantic. After last night he's more aware of that than ever. "I'm fine now though."

"Are you sure?"

Tyler nods. "Positive. Thanks for kicking everyone out."

Caroline looks pleased with herself. Event management is her thing.

"Are you hungry?" she asks. "I was going to go raid your fridge."

"Knock yourself out."

She kisses him again and practically skips out the door. Whatever hangover she should have had wasn't presenting itself.

Tyler's phone rings and he grabs it. Bonnie's name flashes across the screen.

"Bonnie," he says, "calling to make sure I haven't killed anyone?"

"No. I'm calling because I just watched Jeremy try to kill Elena."

"Gilbert tried to kill Gilbert? What happened?"

"I think it's the hunter thing. He wouldn't have tried it otherwise."

"But she's okay?"

"Yes."

Tyler honestly can't figure out the fuss. It's too early.

"Are  _you_  okay?"

"Yes."

"Where is he?"

"He's here, asleep."

"Where is... _here_?"

"His house."

"Why are you at their house? It's like-" He checks his watch - "eight thirty-two." Bonnie at Gilbert's house at eight thirty-two in the morning after she  _channeled_  him last night. "Did you-?"

"Shut up, Tyler," Bonnie says. "This is a problem."

"Yes, the Gilberts trying to kill each other is a problem," he concedes. But if they keep failing, do they really need to pull out all the stops each time? He heard about Elena killing Jeremy a few weeks ago. That didn't take either. "Do you want me to come over?"

"No he might try to kill you, too."

"Remember when you said he wouldn't do that?"

"Shut up, Tyler."

Tyler grins. "Okay. So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to wake him up," she says. "Then I'll have to figure out what to do. How do you keep a hunter from doing what hunters are  _supposed_  to do?"

Tyler can think of an answer. He assumes Bonnie won't want to hear it and she won't be satisfied with it either. "You don't."

* * *

"That's very unhelpful," Bonnie tells Tyler. "I'm hanging up now. I'm gonna wake him."

"Good luck."

Bonnie sits down next to Jeremy on the couch and folds his hand up in hers. When she pushes up the sleeves on his jacket, she can still see the mark. She wonders if it should still be able to see it. Last night she'd chalked it up to nature and the channeling but there it is, still in sight. She lifts the magic that was keeping him under. She imagines it's like a fog, clearing away.

Jeremy's eyes flutter open.

"Hi," she says. She's still holding his hand.

He sits up and glances around the room. "Where's Elena?"

"She left."

Jeremy doesn't comment. He looks everywhere but at her.

"Jeremy," she says, "what happened? What were you thinking?"

"That she's a vampire and I'm a hunter."

"That doesn't sound like that was  _all_  you were thinking."

Jeremy finally looks at her. "Did I say something that wasn't true?"

"No. But you did try to kill your sister so-"

"But I didn't," he snaps. "You stopped me."

"And you're angry about that?"

She knows he is.

"Jeremy, Elena isn't...If you want to kill vampires, you know which ones deserve it."

"Yeah."

"Elena's not one of them."

"Are you sure?"

"What?"

"She sides with them over us every time. What if she deserves it?"

"You don't mean that."

Jeremy loves Elena. Loves her more than Bonnie does. They're family and family protects each other. But Elena hasn't always found the best way to protect him. She shipped him off to Denver and that doesn't work but now she's staying at the Salvatore mansion with Damon, who killed Jeremy once.

Still, Bonnie knows he can't mean it.

Without thinking, she squeezes his hand.

Jeremy squeezes back. "You think I'm losing myself, right? I bet she thinks that, too."

"It's a change," Bonnie says. "We're all changing. We just have to...change together."

He shakes his head. "Connor was right about vampires and hunters. Vampires are dangerous. They hurt people and I can stop them. What's so wrong with that?"

Bonnie wants to remind him that Elena hasn't hurt anyone, that she's his sister but she knows he knows that already. He just doesn't care. "I don't think we change, Bonnie," he adds. "We just become more ourselves."

Welcome to Mystic Falls, where yourself is a scary thing to be.


	11. Sired

"I'm confused. Why is Gilbert staying with you?"

Bonnie and Tyler are in the next town over. It's becoming their preferred location. If there are vampires or hybrids here neither of them knows about it and that's the way they like it. Here no one knows them and none of their friends are running around trying not to die. Here they are just Bonnie and Tyler, witch and hybrid, though no one knows that but them. Today they're sitting in a diner with cups of bad coffee in front of them.

"Because he can't stay with Elena." Bonnie gives Tyler a  _duh_  look.

"But Elena's staying with Damon anyway."

"Well she needs to be able to go somewhere else if she  _doesn't_ want to stay with him." The last thing any of them need is Elena feeling like she has nowhere to be but with Damon. That's a recipe for disaster if there ever was one.

As they spoke, Jeremy was back at Bonnie's house getting acquainted with the couch which was going to be his home until he could manage not to kill his sister. After she'd changed clothes and showered, she'd told him where she was meeting Tyler to strategize.. He'd wanted to come with her but since they couldn't be certain he wouldn't hurt Tyler, he'd agreed to stay put. She'd done a spell to keep him confined to the house. He hadn't been happy with that.

"Are you  _sure_  you don't have ulterior motives?" Tyler asks as he takes a sip of his coffee. He grimaces as he swallows it down. For some reason they're both still drinking it even though they established early on it was terrible.

"What are you trying to say, Lockwood?" Bonnie asks playfully.

"What do you think I'm trying to say, Bennett?"

"I think you're implying that Jeremy's staying at my house so I'll have easier access to...him and his..."

Tyler raises his eyebrows.

"...Him," Bonnie finishes.

"I might be saying that."

She must be getting used to Tyler's fascination with her relationship with Jeremy because she only smiles.

"It was so weird," Bonnie says. "He was fine the night before. We had a completely normal conversation and this morning he was like a totally different person."  _Well not totally different._

"Well, you're not a vampire," Tyler says. "He won't react the same way to you."

"I guess. So what's the plan?"

"You tell me."

"I have to talk to Stefan."

"And once that happens, we're back on track?"

Bonnie can see it in his face he doesn't expect it to be that easy. And she doesn't either. Whatever the cure is, who knows what kind of obstacles they'll have to bypass to get it. And what if they need Stefan for longer than they anticipate?

"I hope so," Bonnie says.

On the table next to her, her phone starts to ring. It's Caroline. She sighs and presses ignore. She'd left a message earlier telling Caroline what happened with Jeremy but Bonnie doesn't want to talk about Jeremy trying to kill Elena anymore. It just gets more and more depressing. Especially since a solution to that particular problem is out of reach. And no one seems to think finding said solution is as urgent a task as she does.

"That was Caroline."

Tyler's about to speak when his phone starts ringing, too. "Caroline," he says.

"Well, answer it."

"You didn't answer yours."

"It must be important if she's calling us both," Bonnie points out. "Just answer it."

Tyler does. "Hello?" His face goes from bored contentedness to confusion and he sits up straighter in his seat. "Are you sure?"

"What?" Bonnie mouths.

Tyler holds up a finger.

"Okay, I'll be back soon," he says. "Just…don't do anything until I get back. We'll talk then….Okay. Bye."

As soon as he hangs up, Bonnie speaks. "What's wrong?"

"She thinks Elena is sired to Damon."

Bonnie's phone starts ringing again.

* * *

Bonnie and Tyler meet Caroline at her house. They arrive separately with Bonnie a few minutes behind him. When she gets there, Stefan is there, too. He looks completely out of place in Caroline's living room surrounded by Caroline's old school portraits and the Sheriff's weird knick-knacks. He looks at her and Tyler without a hint of remembrance of the night before, when Tyler almost had a stake in his heart. Tyler doesn't look at Stefan much at all.

"I would have called Jeremy," Caroline says, "but he might, you know...kill us."

"So how do you break a vampire's sire bond?" Stefan says. They all look at Bonnie.

"Do you expect me to know the answer to that question?"

Tyler cracks a smile. "Has anyone told Elena she's sired?"

"Not yet," Stefan says. "We're waiting."

"For what?"

"Until we have definite proof."

"It sounds like we have it," Bonnie says. "She can't drink from blood bags because Damon tells her she needs blood from the vein. No other vampires have had that problem. Not Katherine and not Isobel."

"She killed Connor," Caroline adds. "And she's been acting totally different. We all know she has."

"But she's a vampire. Vampires are different," Stefan points out.

"Then tell Damon to tell Elena to drink from a blood bag and keep it down," Tyler says impatiently. Bonnie can't tell if he's annoyed because Stefan is there or if...he's annoyed because Stefan is there. "Then we'll know for sure."

"That means telling Damon about the sire bond," Caroline says.

"Yeah, I know," Tyler says. "Nothing's going to get solved if we're the only ones who know about it. So tell Damon. When it works, you guys can tell Elena and we'll figure out how to break it."

"It won't be the same as hybrids breaking their bond," Bonnie reminds them. "They have to turn over and over. Elena's a vampire. Same rules don't apply."

"What if we can't break it?" Stefan asks. "What if she's sired forever?" _  
_

Tyler speaks. "Then she's fucked."

Welcome to Mystic Falls where it's hard to find someone who isn't.

* * *

Stefan goes to talk to Damon. Caroline, Tyler and Bonnie stay behind to wait. "This explains everything," Caroline says. "That's why she broke up with Stefan."

"Stefan broke up with her," Bonnie reminds her.

Tyler's heard this story a few times by now. It exhausts him more than it should but he cares so little about Stefan and Elena or Damon and Elena that it takes all of his energy not to tell Caroline to drop it. She considers Stefan a friend and Elena, too. Of course she doesn't want Elena with Damon. If she's sired, that's even more reason to want her far, far away from him.

"Yeah because she was suddenly super into Damon."

"She's always been into Damon."

"But not like this."

When Tyler was sired to Klaus, he thought he hated him. He did hate him. But Klaus had freed him of turning. No more painful nights spent in the cellar with chains wrapped around him. No more loss of control. No more mood swings. He was all the good things about being a werewolf with none of the bad ones. Granted, he was dead now and if he thought about that for a long time, it sunk his mood. Klaus made him bite Caroline. He'd almost killed her because it was what Klaus wanted. If Elena was sired, she really was screwed. If she was sired to Damon, then she was almost as screwed as Tyler had been. He thinks of Caroline and what Damon did to her. The sire bond isn't like compulsion but it can be, if the sire knows how to use it. If Klaus wanted something, Tyler would give it to him. That was the price he paid for not being just a werewolf anymore.

He doesn't like Elena, not the way the others do. He wasn't kidding when he said he wouldn't die for her. Do anything for her really. It still seems like a waste to do so much for someone who never returns the favor. But she might be sired. And Tyler was sired. He wouldn't wish that on anyone.

It's a couple hours before Stefan calls Caroline.

"It worked," she says. "Elena drank from a bag and she's feeling fine. Apparently she's ecstatic. And she's overflowing with  _gratitude_ for Damon."

Tyler rolls his eyes at the same time as Bonnie. "So she has to break it."

"We have to tell her first," Bonnie says. "We can't just let her go on doing whatever Damon wants her to do and not know  _why_."

"Stefan says Damon's going to tell her," Caroline says.

Tyler and Bonnie give her the same incredulous look.

"Yeah, I know that's a long shot," Caroline agrees, "but we have to give him a chance to. It might be better coming from Damon. Since he's her  _sire_  and all." She exaggerates a shudder and stomps into the kitchen.

Tyler meets Bonnie's gaze. "Tell Caroline I'm going to talk to Shane. He might know something about it."

"I'll go with you."

Bonnie's eyes flit to the kitchen where Caroline is. She gives him a look.  _No, you can't,_ she tells him.  _We're not friends, remember?_

The one sided conversation was cool  _once_  but now it's just annoying that he can't talk back. "Caroline," he calls, "I'm driving Bonnie to Whitmore. We're talking to that Professor guy."

Caroline pokes her blond head out of the kitchen. "Why are  _you_  going?" _  
_

"I'm the only one here that's been sired," he explains. "And I need to know. He might be able to help with the hybrids."

"Okay," she sighs. "I guess I'll hang here and wait for Stefan to come back." She doesn't seem to mind it. Maybe she thinks Stefan needs her more than they do at the moment. After all, it's not them with the ex-girlfriend who's sired to their brother.

* * *

"Don't call him Professor Fratty," Bonnie says as they walk toward Shane's office. She can just see Shane's face if  _that_  happens.

"I don't call him that anyway," Tyler says. "It's the  _Fratty Professor_."

"Either one," she sighs. "Okay?"

"Okay," Tyler agrees. "I'll call him Atticus."

Bonnie groans.

Shane smiles when he sees her and shakes Tyler's hand. "What can I help you with?"

"What do you know about sire bonds?"

"They're rare."

"Not rare enough," Tyler mutters as he examines some of the trinkets on Shane's shelves.

"Do you know how to break one? Between vampires?"

Shane squints at her. "You mean magically?"

"If that's the only way."

He sinks down into his chair and Bonnie sits down in her usual one. "You can't break a sire bond with magic. I've heard of hybrids, part werewolf, part vampire, who turn again and again to break their bonds to their sire."

Tyler pauses from his perusal of Shane's stuff. "Where'd you hear that?"

"Conference," Shane answers.

"But for vampires?"

"I don't know of any way to break a vampire's bond. The sire can tell his... _child_  if you will, to go on and live their lives however they see fit."

"But there's still a bond," Bonnie says. "The vampire does that because the sire tells them to."

"That's the point," Shane says. "You can't break a sire bond between vampires. Not to my knowledge anyway."

Bonnie looks at Tyler who leans against the wall with his hands in his pocket. He looks like he expected that. Maybe he did.

But Bonnie didn't. Elena can't be sired, not to Damon, and not for her entire, eternal life.

* * *

On the drive back, Bonnie stares out the window. If the sire bond can't be broken with magic, then Elena will be sired to Damon forever. There's no way Damon will let her go, not when he's been clinging to her this long. He didn't let her go when Stefan was her boyfriend. He didn't let her go when Elena told him to. He didn't let her go when Elena chose Stefan even after he became the Ripper again. Now that he had her, Damon wasn't going to let her go.

"So, what do you want to do?" Tyler asks.

"We have to help her," Bonnie says. "We can't just leave it to Damon." The thought of Elena, at Damon's mercy the way Caroline had been, makes her skin crawl.

"He might not use it," Tyler says.

"It doesn't matter. He doesn't have to want to use it for it to work. You said you wanted to make Klaus happy. Elena wants to make Damon happy. The things that make Damon happy don't usually coincide with things that make Elena happy. Like killing Connor. Look what that did. It's not about Damon not using it because he doesn't have a choice. If Elena thinks she can make Damon happy by walking into the sun without her ring, she'll do it. That's the sire bond. Right?" _  
_

"Right. But it's not the exact same for them," he adds. "You said Elena's said no to him more than once since she's turned. She has _some_  control."

"But not all of it. She needs all of it."

"The cure is still on the table," he points out. "Humans can't be sired to vampires."

"If there is a cure," Bonnie says. "We know less about it then we do the sire bond."

"But if there is one, that'll work."

"And if there isn't one, we're right back where we started."

"What's wrong? You were all over the cure this morning. And last night. Now you're changing your mind?"

"Maybe I just want this whole thing to be over with." It's getting complicated. She knew it wouldn't be easy. It's been a long time since something was easy but she didn't think it would be like this. If things had gone to plan, Stefan would have died last night. They'd be one Salvatore down. Maybe she'd be feeling better if it went that. Maybe she'd feel better if Jeremy hadn't tried to stake Elena this morning and if Elena wasn't sired to Damon.

Tyler looks like he doesn't want to talk about it anymore. Maybe she's biting his head off a little bit.

"I have a better idea," she says. Maybe it's not  _better_  but it's a quicker fix. Quicker than searching for a cure, quicker than searching and maybe never finding one. "You'll like it."

"Tell me."

"We kill Damon. As soon as possible."

A slow smile spreads across Tyler's face. Bonnie can't help but smile, too. Tyler smiling - anyone smiling - has been a rare sight. It's hard to find something to be happy about.

Tyler lets out something between a  _whoop_  and a laugh.

Yeah, he likes that.


	12. Magic House

 Bonnie has to tell Jeremy what's happened eventually. And she can't just leave him to stay in her house alone without any human interaction. He said he may call Matt and ask him to come by, being human and all but when she returns home, Jeremy hasn't moved from his spot in front of the TV and it doesn't look like anyone's been there.

"You were gone for a long time," Jeremy comments. "What were you and Tyler talking about?"

"I wasn't with Tyler," she said. "Well, I was. But we were dealing with other things. Like Elena being sired to Damon."

Jeremy turns his head to look at her. "Well, maybe that explains why I want to kill her so bad."

She expected more of a reaction.

"It doesn't really," Bonnie says, "but whatever makes you feel better."

Jeremy heaves a giant sigh. "That's the thing. I don't feel bad."

"Not at all?"

"Nope." He cocks his head to the side. "Am I freaking you out?"

"A little."

"Sorry." He sounds genuinely apologetic for that but somehow she knows he'll never be able to muster up that much in regards to Elena. "So, when are we doing this thing with Damon?"

"Soon," Bonnie says.

"How soon is soon?"

"Very soon. We have to work out the logistics and it's going to be awkward since you can't be in the same room as Tyler."

"I  _can_ ," Jeremy says. "I can control myself."

"You couldn't this morning."

"That was this morning and that was Elena. I'm not gonna hurt Tyler. He hasn't done anything."

"Neither has Elena."

Jeremy looks at her pointedly. "We both know that's not true." Before Bonnie can ask him what that means, he says, "Call Tyler. Tell him to come over. We can talk it out right now."

"I don't think we should risk that."

There's a knock on the front door and Bonnie gets up to answer it. One glance out the window tells her this won't go well. She opens the door anyway.

Damon's never been to Bonnie's house before. Seeing him there is even weirder than seeing Stefan.

"Jeremy here?" he asks.

"Yes. Why?"

"I want to know what the  _hell_  he's thinking. I've been with Elena since this morning and she's  _freaking_ out because he tried to kill her."

"Why don't you just to tell her to stop?" Jeremy says. He stands behind Bonnie, one hand on the wall. She's not worried. He can't leave and Damon can't come in. If Damon's come looking for a fight, if Jeremy's looking to accept one, they'll both be disappointed. "You're her  _sire._ If her whining is bothering you, tell her to shut up."

"Jeremy," Bonnie says. "I'll handle this."

"Then allow me to watch."

Bonnie sighs and looks back to Damon. She hasn't seen much of him since he became Elena's...boyfriend or whatever. Maybe she expected him to look different now that he's gotten what he wants. But he looks exactly the same. Like an asshole. The same leather jacket and the same stupid thing he does with his eyes.

"You should go," she says. "I'm helping him."

"Doesn't seem to be working."

"You being here definitely isn't."

"The only reason I'm not out there separating your head from your shoulders is because she won't let me out," Jeremy snaps. "The minute she does, I'm coming for you."

" _Damon, leave_ ," Bonnie says. When they do end up killing Damon, Jeremy's going to be at the top of the list of suspects. It won't help that he'll actually have contributed to the effort. "Jeremy's not going to do anything to you or Elena. I'm handling it."

"You better."

She's getting really sick of Damon talking to her like that.

"Don't come to my house again, Damon," she says. "You're not welcome here."

"Stefan's just as pissed as I am. You didn't have a problem inviting him in."

If it's supposed to be a threat, it falls flat. She doesn't doubt Stefan's ability to hurt her. He's just as single minded as Damon in his pursuit to protect Elena, even though she's the same. They should be on the same side. Sometimes she wonders how they ended up like this. Neither Salvatore would get far if he did try something. It's been over a year since she first met them and they were stronger and smarter than she was. But now she's grown. She's been super powered and powerless and she can kill a Salvatore brother if she wants to. With some more practice, she won't need Tyler or Jeremy to help her do it. But that may disappoint them.

"Tell Stefan he can consider his invitation revoked."

Welcome to Mystic Falls, where there's a spell for that.

* * *

Tyler's never been to Bonnie's house before. He's seen it when he passed through but he's never known it's Bonnie's. It looks small from the outside. When he raps on the door, it's Jeremy who answers. If anyone asks, it's him Tyler's come to see. Bonnie told him about the barrier she created, to keep Jeremy inside but Tyler's still wary. And a barrier won't matter once he's on the other side of it.

"Feeling any killing urges, Gilbert?"

"Not yet, Lockwood." He turns around and starts back inside. Tyler sees a weird setup on the sofa, sheets and a blanket and a pillow.

"Where's Bonnie?"

"She's in here."

"Well, can you get her? She has to invite me in."

Jeremy must have forgotten. He calls out to Bonnie who comes from the upstairs at a jog. "Oh, hey. Come in."

Tyler steps over the threshold. It's still weird that he has to be invited in. Granted, there aren't many people inviting him anywhere. It's not like he's had the time to make loads of new friends though Hayley did invite him into her apartment when they met. He likes to think she'd be glad to see he's doing something with himself now, something that doesn't include waiting around for Klaus to ruin his life in some other way. She'd also probably call him stupid for sharing space with a hunter who tried to kill his own sister a few hours ago. But Bonnie's there. He took her seriously when she said she'd protect him from Jeremy if need be.

"Damon stopped by," she says as she reaches behind him to shut the door.

"What did he want?"

"My head on a stick, I think," Jeremy says. He doesn't  _look_  dangerous. He's just sitting there, watching TV like Tyler's as human as him and Bonnie are.

"I have to finish a spell," Bonnie says. She looks between him and Jeremy.

Finally Tyler realizes. She doesn't want to leave them alone together. Just in case. "Yeah, I'll come with you."

Jeremy gives them an annoyed look but doesn't say anything.

Bonnie's bedroom is filled with sunlight when they enter. It's a little messy with clothes thrown here and there but she's not worried about it. There are books that look ancient on her desk next to the cracked spines of her history and algebra textbooks. There's a potted plant on the windowsill, in full bloom with bright pink petals. It looks too exotic to be local. "I grew it myself," she says when she notices him staring. "With magic."

"See?" She touches the stem with her thin fingers and closes her eyes. The petals extend further and it grows up another inch or so. She's so unfazed by it, making this thing grow when Tyler just wants to stare at it longer. He supposes it's because she's been doing this for awhile. The thrill has probably worn off.

She sits down in the center of her bed and folds her legs. There's another old looking book there.

"What's the spell?"

"A spell to rescind invitations," she answers. "For Stefan."

"When did you invite  _him_  in?"

"I was emotionally compromised," she says. "My judgment was affected. Now be quiet." She closes her eyes.

Tyler wonders if he'll feel a change. He waits for it, utilizes all his senses. But all he hears is Bonnie's steady breathing, her heart beating calmly. Jeremy's downstairs eating from a bag of chips. Her room smells like some kind of perfume, the kind she wears sometimes and something earthier. Herbs, maybe. He can see her pulse point throbbing in her neck beneath the gold chain of her necklace.

"It's rude to stare," she says. Her eyes are still closed.

"I thought you wanted it to be quiet."

She shrugs.

"You can sit down, you know," she says.

"You're still talking." He sits down across from her. The bed dips with his weight.

"I'm aware, thank you."

When she opens her eyes again, Tyler can't tell if anything's happened. "Did it work?"

"I think so," she says. Then she becomes more certain. "Yeah. It worked."

"So, Gilbert hasn't tried to kill me yet."

"You've only been here a few minutes," Bonnie reminds him. "Give him awhile." Then she becomes serious. "If he tries anything, I'll handle it. Don't...hurt him or anything."

"Yeah, yeah. Damon say anything else when he came by?"

"No. He just came to prove he's a good boyfriend by trying to rough up Elena's brother."

"Did he tell Elena she's sired?"

"We didn't get to that. But I doubt it."

"If he doesn't tell her, who will?"

"I will. Or Caroline. Or Stefan. Or Jeremy. Or even you. If he doesn't tell her, he's going to have a hard time making sure she doesn't know."

"She might not care," Tyler says. "I didn't."

"Elena will. She's always cared."

"She won't care if he doesn't want her to."

Bonnie frowns. She reaches for the book.

"What is that?"

"It's a grimoire. It's basically a spellbook."

"What's in it?"

Bonnie blinks. "...Spells."'

Tyler rolls his eyes. "I mean what kind of spells?"

"Lots," Bonnie says. "I have more. They're personal for witches. You write them yourself."

"Whose was that?"

"It belonged to my Grams." She turns it around so he can look at the pages. They're heavy and marked with dark ink. The handwriting is wide and loopy.

"Do you have one?" he asks as he touches one of the pages. He expects it to do something. Maybe glow. But it's just a page. He turns it and sees instructions for making a talisman of some kind.

"It's not as nice as these," Bonnie says, "but...yeah. I started working on it after I started meeting with Shane." She turns around and pulls a notebook from underneath her pillows.

"This is your History notebook," Tyler says.

"Well, there's history in there, too," she says. "I haven't gotten around to finding a book to use."

Tyler smiles as he opens it. There  _is_  history in there, notes on a few ancient wars before all traces of academia are abandoned in favor of spells and incantations. Some are one line and others go on for pages. Some are written in the vivid marks of a highlighter, others in various colors of ink. "Your handwriting is terrible," he comments. "I can't read any of this."

Bonnie whacks his knee.

"Will you show me something?"

"I showed you something already," she says. She points to the flower.

"I know. But something else. Something  _big."_

Bonnie glances around her room. "Well we're limited because we're in my bedroom but I can levitate something."

"That's all you've got?"

Bonnie hits him again. "I'll levitate  _you_."

" _Really?_ "

"Yes," she says. "Get on the floor."

He takes off his jacket and tosses it onto her bed. He sits and Bonnie kneels next to him. "Now lay down."

Tyler lies back. On her ceiling there are posters that he didn't notice at first. Girl bands. One of them may be the Spice Girls. Tyler only knows who they are because of Caroline. Maybe her and Bonnie went through that particular phase together. Still he points upward. "Seriously?"

Bonnie looks up and laughs. "It's been there forever. Now, relax. And close your eyes."

"Why?"

"So you can open them when you're off the ground," Bonnie says. "The effect will be better that way."

"Trying to impress me, Bonnie?"

"I've already impressed you plenty," she says. "I'm just in it for the theatrics. Keep your eyes open if you want to."

He closes them.

She adjusts his body with her hands. Puts his legs together. Folds his arms on top of his chest.

Tyler isn't aware of himself rising. He may be. He may not. All he knows is his body is stiff and he can't move. He keeps his eyes closed like Bonnie said.

"Okay," she says. It feels like forever has passed. "Open."

He does.

When he turns his head toward her, he sees that his body is level with her face. She's smiling and her eyes seem brighter. She looks younger. It's then that he realizes how old they all are now even though only a year has passed since all of this began. He knows he's aged, too. It takes Tyler a moment to start laughing. He peeks down at the floor, a couple feet below him.

"Impressed?" she says.

"Maybe. How high can you make me go?"

"How high do you want to go?"

"Higher."

Bonnie obliges. He keeps his eyes open during the ascent. He's face to face with one of the Spice Girls when he stops rising. "Now I'm impressed."

"This looks productive."

Jeremy's somewhere down there. Tyler turns his head. He's standing in the doorway with his hands in his pockets. Tyler can't make out any obvious weapons.

"Come to kill me, Gilbert?"

Jeremy sighs. "No. I told you guys it's fine." He steps further into the room and stands next to Bonnie who is on her feet now. They both look at up Tyler. "Weren't we supposed to be doing something? Like figuring out how to kill Damon?"

"Relax. We're just having some fun."

"Do you want to try it?" Bonnie's asking Jeremy. For a minute, Tyler thinks he may refuse. Maybe hunters don't have fun but Jeremy says yes.

"Can you do us both at the same time?" Tyler asks. He doesn't want to come down yet.

Bonnie lets out an exaggerated sigh but Tyler can tell she wants to. He wonders when the last time was she got to just show her magic off. Probably with the professor but Caroline has only talked about seeing Bonnie do recreational magic once or twice. The rest of the time it's all business. Bonnie instructs Jeremy to lay down on the other side of the room, on the other side of her bed. She adjusts him too and then she gets comfortable on her bed. "Ready, Jeremy?"

"Yeah."

"Close your eyes," Tyler says.

"Why?"

"For the effect."

He doesn't know if Jeremy's listened but he watches as Jeremy rises over Bonnie's bed. She's not looking at either of them. Her eyes are closed and there's the ghost of a smile on her lips. When Jeremy's level with Tyler, Bonnie tells him to open his eyes. She's still not looking.

"Whoa."

Bonnie moves them around a little bit. She goes slow but Tyler and Jeremy both cross over her head to hover on opposite sides of the room.

When she puts them down, they're all laughing.

But Bonnie's face straightens first. "Now we have to get to work."


End file.
